Fall for the unexpected
by Don'tCryYourHeartOut
Summary: We all know Lauren Lopez as the funny strong one from the amazing Team starkid, but what happens when Lauren reveals her emotion for someone she never expected to fall for! (Staring Darren Criss, Joe walker, Joey richter Jaime Lyn Beatty and a bit of Brerdith aswell as Denise and Joe Oh and all the starkids )
1. Chapter 1

"LAUREN GET OUT OF BED" Joe Walker shouted from downstairs. Lauren opened her eyes and smiled as she heard her beloved boyfriend Joe coming upstairs. He stood in the door way smiling at her, Lauren blushed and smiled back. Joe walked over to her bed and sat next to Laurens tiny hand, He gently took it in his making his heart pound.

"Your so tiny Lo" He laughed

"Your not exactly a giant either Walker!" she replied

"Well no giants dont date elvs!" He looked down and saw Laurens smile turn into a look of revenge. Before she could say anything Joe had leant in and kissed her. He pulled away and smiled.

"Now come on we have to go to work, Jaime's rang four times already!" Lauren grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer.

"Do we have to go yet" she winked

"I guess not" Joe replied efore kissing her once again.

"WERE ARE THEY!" Jaime shouted making all the other Starkids stare at her.

"Its okay babe they will be here" Joey replied kissing her on the head.

"Urgh, Guys why here?" Nick complained

"Thats what Lauren and Joe are probably doing" Joey told Jaime reasuringly.

"Thats horrible" Nick groaned

"Ahhh you jelous Nick" Joey cried in a weird voice

"No , no of course not" Nick replied. His heart sank, of course he liked her! everytime he looked at her his heart skipped a beat and he lost his breath. He knew he wasnt good at hiding it though. Ever since that webchat, where they were inocently flirting, everyone knew he liked her.

"Oh come on guys you dont know they are kissing?" Brian pipped up

They all began to stare at him

"Okay we know they are... but who says they arent breaking up... i mean the arent really a good couple... they dont match!"

And then there was Brian. The person totaly obsessed with Lauren and Nicks main compettion.

"You guys have problems, Okay Lauren is with Joe so get over your stupid crushes!" Darren said entering form the kitchen. "Anyway i think you have an admirer yourself Brian" He said turning his head towards Meredith who was cooking in the kitchen with Julia. Brian began to blush.

Darren was Laurens best friend and he wouldnt let anyone hurt her.

"Hahahah Brian and Meredith now that i would love to see!" Brain R laughed

"Awww shut up Brain i think they would be cute!" Dyaln replied. Clark and Jim nodded in agreement

"Okay guys I get it now can we start now!" Brolden spoke

"We cant until L..." Jaime began. The door opened to reveal a flustered Joe and Lauren

"Sorry were late guys it turns out Lauren is very stable for a small girl." Joe said staring down at her, she looked back up at him and smiled.

"Lauren!" Darren called as he ran up to her and squeezed her tight.

"Awww ive missed you Criss!"

"Missed you too Lopez!"

The pair hadnt seen each other since the opening of Holy musical b man but was to busy with fans to get to spend time with him! The rest of the group let out a big awww looking at the two friends. Clark started to clear his throat.

"Come on guys we really need to get going!" he began

"Yeah guys right i have written you a script and will leave it with you to work it out cause im off" Nick claimed.

"Oooh noo Nick i just got here cant you stay please" Lauren fluttered her eye lashes. Nicks eyes widend, there was no way he could say no to Lauren who was practically begging him to stay with her.

"Im soo sorry Lo but i cant, How about when your done you come to mine and we will go out for some pizza?"

"Yeah sure, cant wait!" She replied cuddling him tight

"Bye nick"

"Yeah bye" And with this he was gone

"Sooo are we still putting on this tour or what?" Clark asked

Everyone gathered around the keyboard and were waiting for the moment when they finaly foud out what they would be singing. Clark handed Lauren hers first, everyone stared waiting for her reaction

"OMG Clark that is amazing! I love it" She cried, The other Starkids begged her to tell them what songs they were singing. Eventually Joe managed to sneak up behind her and grab the book.

"Hahah no way clark! Joey singing the Facy machine song from little white lie!" Joe burst out

"Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou Clark" Joey jumped up

"Gese Joey I didnt know you liked that song?" Jaime cried

"Uh yeah ... now come and hug me!" She jumped up and squeezed him tight, with him planting a kiss on her forehead.

"Ahhh Clark, Boy toy ... AGAIN?!" Dyalan shouted, which he regreted later on.

"Boy boy toy, you know your my favourite boy" Lauren chanted walking across the room

"Now look what youve gone and done Dylan" Darren stared at him

"But i think its cute!" Darren suddenly walked over to Lauren picked her up and swung her round making her squeel.

30 minutes later when all the starkids had gotten their books and now sitting by the piano began to sing. Lauren stared at the rest of her friends and smiled, she loved being a starkid. The rest of that rehersal seemed to fly by for all of the starkids, they all put it down to having to much fun. They all grabbed their things and made their way out to the storm that lay ahead, Joe, Brian and Darren all rushed to cover Lauren the tiny girl who was most likely to get swept away, but it was Darren that won the fight. Infact Joe didnt really try, it was like he was only doing it to look like a good boyfriend. Brian went to catch up with Meredith who was standing next to Jaime, Joey, Dylan,Julia and Clark leaving Brosenthol, Joe darren and Lauren in their shadow.

"So Lo and Joe" Darren gave out a little sniger "What were you doing this morning?" He continued

"Why do you wanna know?" Joe replied snappy

"I just care about Lo an..."

"She's not your girlfriend you know!" Joe shouted

"Well...ummm...I will be going i think... coming Jaime..I have to go" Brian began akwardly running towards the others

"What was that Joe?" Darren continued

"I said she's not your girlfriend, so stop acting like she is!"

"Well however im acting at least I will always be better than you!"

"Geese Darren you get on one TV show and suddenly you think you have everyone at your feet! I mean stop stealing peoples girlfriends!"

"Im tying to protect her from you!"Darren yelled, by this point their friends up ahead had stopped and was now watching the so called friends battle it out.

"GUYS WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU?WHY ARE YOU HURTING EACHOHTER!" Lauren shouted over her two friends, She even suprised her self at how loud her voice was

"Are you going to tell her Joe.. or I will"

"Wait what... Tell me what!..Joe?" Lauren asked confussed.

"I guess i will leave you too it, Just dont come crying to me okay Joe" Darren said calmly before walking away down the street passing his friends as he went. Lauren stared at Joe in confussion. She didnt know if she should be scared or relived, see the truth was she didnt like Joe well she did but that wore off after they finished space. Well ever scince space she started to like Brian a bit, but she knew that was wrong so she stopped. However she was in the hallway when he said he like her and Nick said something aswell but she didnt quite hear him. Maybe she was falling for B-Hol.. NO this would never work!

"Lo.." Joe whispered

"Yeah"

"I need to talk to you"

"Sure"

"But not here" He turned his head to the rest of the starkids who were still watching thier every move.

"Fine we can go into the park"

They both walked over to a park bench in complete scilence.

"Soo" they both said at the same time, they both dropped thier head and stared at the floor. Could this be akwardness? They had never been akward.

"Lo theres something i havent been honest about."

"Come on Joe you can tell me"

"Well...umm..its ... well it Denise!" Lauren looked up at him so quickly she nearly broke her neck.

"What about her?"

"Well we have kind of been seeing eachother..." He looked at her scared of her reaction.

"oh" She sighed

"Yeah...Oh no not like that we havent kissed or anything no way.. we have just been out a few times but i mean i really like her Lo and i still love you, i always will an..."

"Joe,, Joe its okay trust me" Lauren interuppted him

"Im soory please dont hurt m...wait what?" Joe seemed quite shocked by the small girl smiling infront of him.

"I havent been truly honest with you either Joe , Like i havent liked liked you for about 4 weeks now and i might be falling for someone else." She stuttered.

"Oh thats cool then cause now i can tell you that yes im dating denise and have been for 6 months and yes we have slept together"

Lauren froze! What did he just say! She sat up and felt her heart die a little. Wait six months ago ..AHHH that was the day after they got together! So their hole replationship was a lie!

"How many people know!"

"Umm just you and darren.. wait know what?"

"That you are a liar and you never even loved me! You took advantage of me and that sucks okay Joe... Its just really sucks!" Lauren ran away holding back the tears, she could hear Joe calling her name behind her but she was too fast for him to catch her. She never knew it would hurt this much, she didnt like him like that anymore but when she poured her heart out to him all he could do was lie back? Lauren became dizzy with all the thoughts running around in her head. She stopped still before falling to the floor in the middle of grass.


	2. Chapter 2

Starkid Fan Fiction  
Fall for the un expected  
part 2

"Lauren? Hey Lo are you okay"  
She could hear a faint voice so decided to open her eyes. She saw a blurry figure of a man standing above her.  
"Hey Lo its okay."  
She knew that voice, it was Nick. He held out a hand to help her up, she grabbed it and was slowly pulled up. Well she wasn't that hard to lift up. She squeezed Nick tightly and whispered in his ear,  
"Thank you nick" He blushed and the tiny girl in his arms.  
"Come on you look starving" He said listening to her stomach rumble. The pair began walking to the pizza parlor they were supposed to meet at, explaining why Nick was there in the first place. They were shown to an empty table and began to look at the menu.  
"So Lo what were you doing in the middle of the park?" She looked down and sighed.  
"Well it was after rehearsal and i was walking with Darren when Joe started shouting to him saying that i wasn't his girlfriend, i dunno then he said that he wasn't telling me something so we walked into the park."  
"Ok im with you so far" Nick interrupted.  
"He said that he wasn't completely honest with me and Darren found out by accident"  
"Wait so where was Darren at this point"  
"Oh he left... Oh i was meant to call him... i hope he is okay...Anyway he said that he had started to like Denise and they had been on a few dates, then i told him how i felt."  
"Which is..." Nick questioned  
"I told him that for a few weeks i had been falling for someone else" Nick tried to hide his smile.  
"He then told me that was okay cause he had been dating Denise for 6 months and they were in love" Lauren tried to hold back the tears.  
"Wait i thought you had been dating 6 months!"  
"Yeah we had and they got together a day after we did...He was playing me Nick he never loved me!" Lauren began to choke up as a tear rolled down her check. Nick had never see Lauren cry before. He ran round to the other side of the table and sat next to her pulling into a one armed hug.  
"Come on Lo Listen, I know it hurts now but one day you will find someone who loves you for you and will never hurt you."  
"You think so?"  
"I know so... and i think he is closer than you think"  
"Yeah i think your right" Nick gasped  
"I am?"  
"Yeah,i just realized what i told Joe about the falling for another person"  
"Good for you..?" Nick said confused  
"Now come on Lo... Life is too short eat dessert first!" They both laughed and ordered too large chocolate sundaes. For the rest of the evening they talked about My little pony and how much they loved the other starkids. Lauren didn't want the night to end but she had to go and see if Darren was okay! She said goodbye to nick and began walking down the road with a smile on her face , that was until she walked round the corner. She stopped suddenly as she saw Joe and Denise kissing on a up she thought show him what hes lost. She stood up tall with a large smile on her face and walked past them with confidence. Joe spotted her and let go of Denise.  
"Lauren?" He stumbled  
"Oh hi Joe, Denise" She said with a smile.  
"I was just going to Darren's, yeah hes letting me stay there since he lives here and i live at least a plane journey away."  
"Oh so your staying with Darren" He sighed  
"Yeah but you have Denise now and your not my boyfriend anymore so i didn't really need to tell you. Well have fun you guys!" She said as she skipped along the road.  
"Wow that was hot!" She heard Joe say as Denise slapped him. She gave out a little chuckle and eventually made her way to Darren's. She walked up to his flat and opened the door, she never had to knock. Suddenly she was pushed back by the force of Darren lifting her up into a hug.  
"Are you okay, did he hurt you? What did he say, did you slap him?"  
"Gosh Darren let the girl breathe she's only little!" Joey shouted as he stood in the doorway"  
"Darren im fine" she stuttered as Darren was squeezing her soo tightly.  
They all walked back into the apartment and sat down on the sofa with Darren cuddling Lauren and her head placed on his shoulder.  
"This so needs to be a tweet" Joey yelled as place himself next to Lauren and placed his legs over Lauren's and Darren's.  
"Do you know what Lo. you should move in with us!" Darren suggested  
"OMG wouldn't that be totally awesome! " Joey screamed,  
"Yeah im mean ever since Julia left to move to New York you've been by yourself and i think you should move to LA cause its amazing here!" Darren explained  
"Please Lo pretty pretty please?" Joey began fluttering his eyelashes  
"Ooh OKAY I WILL!" Lauren screamed! How could she resist she loved Darren and Joey and LA! This was going to be interesting she thought.  
"Okay smile" Joey said as he held the camera up and the flash went off.  
"God Joey!"  
"aah that was bright!"  
"Sorry guys" Joey said as he rubbed his eyes to try and regain some vision. Joey uploaded the photo onto twitter with the caption "Our new room mate!"  
"Okay then what should we do now?" Darren asked  
"Lo you never even told me what happened? I mean Darren knows!" Joey asked with a frown on his face.  
"Oh well Joe and I broke up he was cheating on me well he was going out with her the day after we got together so basically the relationship was a lie"  
"Oh wait so who is this girl"  
"Denise" Darren told him  
"Whhaatt" Joey said in his Ron voice  
"Yeah.. wait Darren you never actually told me how you found out?"  
"Ohhh yeah tell me Joey wanna know"  
"Well it was after you to had just told us you go together and i walked upstairs to the bathroom and saw them in the bedroom kissing, I didnt say anything cause i was confused at the time and now i know they weren't together then they were just kissing"  
"Oh... okay lets talk about something else now!" Lauren cheered  
"TANGLED!" Joey shouted  
"Ohh yes do you have it?" Lauren begged.  
"Yeah Joey go and get it from my room and put it for us?"  
"Ohhh boy!" Joey cheered as he left the room  
"Im really glad your okay Lo" Darren whispered  
"Im fine trust me" She replied  
Darren softly kissed her on her head and once again snuggled up to her waiting for Joey to put the DVD on.  
The rest of the night was filled with singing, laughing and generally just a group of friends having fun just like in collage. Lauren was great full that she had Darren and Joey to fall back on. And she couldn't wait to go on tour with them as Darren was Joining them for the full tour. As she was thinking about this she didn't even notice she had fallen asleep in his arms...


	3. Chapter 3

Fall for the unexpected chapter 3

The next morning Lauren opened her tired eyes and stared at the room. She looked up and saw Darren asleep still holding her tightly, across the room was Joey sitting by the TV hugging a bag of popcorn. She raised her head and noticed he was wide awake, almost crying.

"Joey are you okay?" She asked

"Tangled ...beautiful ...movie ... I can't...Even " He replied with a stutter

"Joey have you stayed up all night watching that movie?"

"Yes Joey has"

"Joey what did you do that for you know we have rehearsals today, you're going to be tired." Lauren laughed. She slowly rolled off Darren's lap and tried her very hardest to not wake him up; she crawled over to Joey and sat next to him looking up at the screen. He put an arm around her and pulled her into a one armed hug.

"I love you Lolo" He slurred

"Ha-ha I love you too Joey"

An hour passed and Darren finally woke up. He opened his eyes to witness his two best friends by the TV crying and singing to see the light.

"Umm guys ... what are you doing?" He puzzled

"I was okay... but now.. I'm crying" Lauren said

"Tangled Darren Tangled" Joey piped up.

"Ahh now I understand. Come on you two we have to be at rehearsal in 20 minutes." Darren said as he walked over and turned off the TV.

"Whhaaa noooo" Lauren and Joey cried as they stared at Darren.

"Now Lauren you can use the bathroom first since you're a girl." Darren pulled Lauren up; she walked down the hall and into the very large bathroom.

"And as for you Joey, Get dressed as Brian will be here soon."

"Brian?" Joey asked

"Yeah were giving him a lift since his car broke down." Joey got up and walked down the same path as Lauren but turning Left into his bedroom. Darren sat back down on the sofa checking his phone for updates on the tour. He hadn't told anyone yet but he might not be able to go on the tour as he had a job offer coming up which would involve him moving to England for a year to film. He really wanted this job but the only thing stopping him was Joey and Lauren. They had been best friends for ages and he dint want to just leave them. Of course he loved the other starkids but something was drawing him closer to Lauren. He was suddenly snapped out of this thought as the door bell was ringing. He walked up and saw Joe standing there, he frowned. Darren took a deep breathe and opened the door.

"I have nothing to say to you Joe okay, Nothing" Darren said. He closed the door again but was stopped halfway as Joe stuck his foot in the door way.

"Well it's just as well as I'm not here to talk to you, I want Lauren. " Joe replied.

"I don't think she wants to talk to you either. She ... she umm. .. She's not here! Darren blurted out"

"She told me she was staying here, where is she then Darren?" Darren paused, what did he just say?!

"She... is ... at Brains house.. Yeah they are an item now she has got over you!" Darren sort of shouted

"Oh... She did tell me she liked him!"

"Really?" Darren puzzled "I mean yeah she told me too!"

"Well then just tell her I want to be friends and I will see you at rehearsal!"

"Yeah sure." Darren shut the door without even saying bye to Joe. "Not" He muttered under his breath. He turned around and walked over to the bathroom

"Miss Lauren Lopez you open this door right now or I'm breaking it down. " He yelled while banging on the door.

"God Darren what do you want. " Lauren said opening the door, she had put on fresh clothes she had brought and now had a towel round her head after washing her hair. Darren walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind him.

"Why didn't you tell me you like Brian?" Lauren stopped smiling and froze

"I...don't like him!" She replied forcefully.

"Well how come Joe has just told me you told him that you liked him!"

"Okay I did, but I don't know how I feel. I'm confused and scared and I don't want to fall for him. He is my best friend and yes I do like him but nothing will happen with us EVER. Lauren said walking over to the bath and leaning on the edge.

"Lo you could have told me, I would have helped you.!"

"No I don't want boys at the moment, I want to focus on the tour and I want to focus on my friends, no romance."

"Lauren, you can't find love if you don't try"

"I'd rather do it that way then get hurt." She walked out the bathroom and into Darren's room to use his hair dryer. He ran after her and stood in the door way. He began to smile at her as she looked beautiful in that light. She flicked her freshly dried hair back off her face which made Darren melt. Wait what; he wasn't supposed to look at Lauren like that. He knew she was beautiful but he loved her like a sister and always will. Darren waited until Lauren had finished, walked in the room and began to dress. She walked back into the living were Joey was now sitting. The doorbell rang again but this time Joey went to answer it.

"If this is Joe again I'm gonna kick his face in!" Joey yelled.

"Joey calm down it will be Brian" Lauren said.

"Oh yeah I forgot." Joey opened the door and B-Hol walked straight in

"So you ready?" He asked

"Not quite, Darren's still getting dressed. " Lauren replied. Brian turned his head towards Lauren and smiled, why is she so perfect he thought. Lauren stood up with her arms open waiting for a hug off Brian. He ran up to her and lifted her up swinging her round. She began to giggle as she became dizzy. Joey smiled and slowly backed away heading towards Darren's room to see if he was ready. Brian eventually stopped spinning and slowly put Lauren down on the floor. For a moment their eyes met but neither of them moved. They stayed staring at each other until Brian slowly and not sure of his action leaned in. Laurens mind started to race, oh my god he is going to kiss me, what should I do, should I let him, I really like him , Come on Lauren you won't find love unless you try.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey thank you guys for reading! I hope your enjoying it so far, please can you keep commenting i need to know what you like and want to happen next! Thank you and the next part should be up today :D**

They both stood there staring at each other. None of them said a word. They didn't even notice Joey and Darren enter the room.

"Umm guys are we going now?" Darren asked walking over to them

"Yeah lets go" Brian said snapping out of his stare. Joey and Brian opened the door and headed down the stairs. Darren grabbed Laurens arm to keep her by his side but kept on walking.

"Err Lo are you okay?" He asked

"Yeah fine just fine." She replied.

"Good" Darren frowned

"Hey what's up." Lauren asked looking up at his expression.

"Hurry up slow coaches!" Joey screamed from down the road.

"Meet me at the fountain in the park after rehearsal and I will tell you then." Darren tried to tell Lauren over the screaming of their friend.

"Oh okay ... wait aren't you staying at the rehearsal?" Lauren looked puzzled.

"Um yeah but I'm leaving early because I have a ... meeting"

"Oh okay I guess we should try and catch up with those two before we get told off again" She laughed. The pair began to run down the street until they caught up with the other two. Lucky for them Darren and Joey's , and now Laurens's, flat was only 3 minutes away from the rehearsal venue so that's why they decided to walk. They walked into the venue to be greeted by the rest of the starkids. However this time Denise was with them, this seemed to puzzle all the other starkids but Lauren, Darren and Joey knew exactly why. Darren stared at Lauren and asked if she was ok with it.

"Yeah Darren I'm fine" She smiled, as she turned and looked at Brian. They all sat down on the chairs laid out by the piano and picked up their music books. However Darren didn't have one.

"Heyy Darren where's your book?" Jaime asked. All the other starkids turned to face him and began agreeing with Jaime. Darren froze.

"Um he doesn't need one, he know his songs already!" Clark began. He looked at Darren and gave him a wink, Darren smiled. Clark was the only person who knew about the audition he went for, he didn't know if he got it or not but didn't write his parts in just in case.

"Oh yeah Darren has a photographic memory" Dylan laughed. The other starkids joined in and so did Darren but more awkwardly. Lauren just sat there as she knew something was up.

"Okay guys let's do the little white lie medley first!" Clark announced. Everyone turned to the correct page, sat up straight and began to sing.

"We've been playing all of our lives, in a world of little white lies" Meredith began. She had an amazing voice and everyone knew it.

"Boy, boy toy you know that your my favourite boy." Lauren continued.

"She wants my fancy machine" Joey, Dylan and Jaime sang in harmony. Joe and Clark laughed at Joey's expression.

"Joey should so wear a moustache" Joe whispered to Darren who completely ignored him.

"I will fight for your light because you shine so bright" Brian R continued.

After a good hour of singing they took a break and all made their way to the kitchen. Lauren looked across the room and saw Darren talking to Joe and Denise. He noticed his face was quite red so it looked like he was shouting. She began to feel quite scared of what he was saying. She continued staring for a while until Darren walked up to and held her in a tight embrace.

"Ive got to go now but I'll meet you at the fountain right?"

"Yeah sure" She smiled

"He said goodbye to everyone else and then left the room. Brian walked up behind her and whispered in her ear.

"I know about Denise Lauren, I'm soo sorry."

"Its okay Brian really. I promise" She whispered back

"Well good cause it would have been really awkward trying to kiss Joe anyway."

The pair both began to laugh causing the others to stare,

"Are you two like an item now or?" Meredith asked disappointed

"Nooooo, Of course not" They both yelled moving away from each other

"Yeah well you guys have been really close today" Dylan added. Lauren saw Joe was trying to say something but it was like he was deciding if he should or not. What did Darren say to him?

"Well Darren told me you guys were dating and that you slept at his house last night so the secrets out the bag guys and Lauren I get it your over me now but that doesn't mean you have to get a boyfriend straight away."

"Joe back off ok, Lauren is the best girl ever anybody would be happy to have her as a girlfriend but you just wasted that!" Brian had never shouted at his friend like this before. Lauren began to blush at what Brian was saying.

"Lauren a good girlfriend I never even saw her when we were dating!"

"That was because you were off snoging Denise leaving me by myself at dates, walks in the park and you had to leave you never even told me why you did it?"

"Joe is this true?" Julia asked

"Yes ok it is, I've been dating Denise the same amount of time I've been dating Lauren.

And Lo if you want an explanation I'll give you one okay!" Joe began shouting

"Go on then I'm waiting" Lauren demanded

"It was because of Darren!"

"Darren how has Darren got anything to with this" Lauren cried, there is no way she would let her best friend be blamed for something like that.

"I was trying to protect you ok. I know it sound stupid but I did it for you! You know Darren has always had a reputation with the ladies and I know he loves you! All of us do" Lauren turned to look at all the other starkids nodding.

"What Darren doesn't love me in that way! But what if he did its not like I would go out with him and that still doesn't explain why you asked me out!"

"Okay well I didn't want you to get hurt from Darren cheating cause I know how close you two are and I know how upset you would be. So I asked you out so you wouldn't go out with him. I know it's stupid I shouldn't have done it but I wasn't trying to hurt you! Lo your my best friend and I love you too pieces why would I hurt you!" He was right he would never try to hurt her.

"I feel so stupid I'm sooo sorry Joe" She ran up to him and squeezed him tight.

"No I'm sorry Lo"

"I think I'm gonna go call Darren" she said as she walked out the room and out the front door. She sat on the stairs and thought about what was said in there. To be honest she didn't really care about Darren she was more focused on what Brian said. Before she had time to think the man himself came to join her. He sat by her side and put one arm around her.

"Hey you okay?" He said softly

"I wish people would stop asking me that!" She groaned

"Lauren your the toughest bitch I know I was only asking that to start the conversation" He laughed as Lauren joined in with a small giggle.

"So what did Darren say?" Lauren looked down at the floor and began to play with her thumbs.

"You haven't done it have you?"

"No I didn't even come out here to ring him! I came out here to ... think" She whispered as she got to the end. She didn't really want to ask Brain about what he said.

"Ahhh you mean about what I said" He grabbed Laurens hand and held it in his. "I meant every word I said Lo" He looked at her and smiled

"Really, because I'm meant to be giving up on boys and I don't like to be messed around."

"No honestly, your amazing, and any guy would be lucky to have you." Lauren looked up and him and smiled.

"And you have to admit that Kiss was pretty amazing too" He winked.

"Hahah yeah, so what's gonna happen... you know ... with us?"

"I don't know. Tell you what because you said you're not into too boys right now I say leave it. I mean you don't need a boyfriend to be happy. Then if there is a spark between us again like this morning than we will change are ways and maybe head into something more serious,"

"I love how you're being so formal Bri" Lauren laughed placing her head on his shoulder creating the perfect fit.

"Okay then how about this. We will be friends for now and if we make out again ill make you my bird!" They both giggled at Brian trying to act like a gangster.

"Maybe we should go back inside?"

"Yeah we should" The pair walked back up the stairs and back into the rehearsal room. They didn't realise they were still holding hands until Jaime asked again if they were dating. The group had now gotten into their positions for the opening scene of the tour, they had tied a sheet to a broom to create the tent. Trying to get all the starkids in a line couching down had been the hardest thing Julia had ever done.

"Joey get your damn arse out my face!" Joe yelled

"Joe I wouldn't be complaining!" Brian yelled

"Yeah guys I don't think you're in the worst position!" Lauren yelled wedged in the middle of the line.

"Guys don't break her!" Clark yelled from behind the keyboard. "Okay ready guys , 1,2,3 and go!"


	5. Chapter 5

Lauren took a deep breath. She spotted Darren sitting on the edge of the fountain on the edge of the park. She didn't know whether to be scared of excited, but she knew she wasn't prepared. Lauren slowly walked over to the fountain and sat on the edge next to Darren. She opened her mouth to speak until Darren noticed and interrupted her.

"Listen Lo, this is really hard for me and I want you to promise me one thing. That you won't say one word until I'm done!"

"I promise" She said intrigued on what he was going say.

"Well you know that I love you loads, and you're like my little sister. Oh God this hurts." Lauren was just about to ask him what's up until she remembered she promised.

"I ... I had an audition... and I really love this part. It was an audition for a part in major movie which also comes with a TV series. There are some amazing people working on it and I'm honoured I got an audition. Anyway I got a call about two days ago saying that I got the part." Laurens face lit up even when Darren's face fell.

"And that means I have to move to England ... for a year to film." Lauren paused. The smile dropped from her face as it became silent around them.

"I can't give it up now but I want to, for you, Lo. I would trade the whole movie for you, to stay here and be with you." He grabbed her hand as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"But I've been trying to think of the positives you know." Darren slurred as he broke down and burst into tears.

"I mean I will get loads of money so we can go away somewhere when I get back and I can but you a nice present ... and ... I'm so sorry Lo" He placed his head in his hands and began to cry harder. This was the first time she had seen Darren cry like this. This made her cry even harder.

"When do you go?" She cried softly

"Tomorrow, and before you ask no I haven't told Joey."

"So your all set then, packed and everything?"

"No, I have a meeting in about 20 minutes and then I need to pack. This reminds me I have to go." He stood up and looked at Lauren who was one step ahead of him. Suddenly he grabbed her and squeezed her tightly.

"I don't wanna go, not without you, I don't wanna leave you here alone."

"Its gonna be okay Darren I promise." Of course she didn't know it was going to be okay, in fact she couldn't even feel her heart beat The pair both walked back to the flat in silence. This is where Darren said his goodbye and left for his meeting. Lauren ran upstairs and straight into the spare room in the flat. This was now hers. She flipped onto the bed and began to cry into her pillow. Darren was going to be gone, as in not here, for a year! Her head was crammed with thoughts she didn't notice Joey walk in and sit beside her on the bed.

"Lo what's wrong?"

"Darren... Darren... he's going... to England for a movie... for a year. No contact what's so ever!" She cried.

"OMG what?" Joey's face fell. Only he understood how close Lauren and Darren were. After a few minutes he lay down on the bed with her and held her close.

"Just like it's you and me now Lo" He whispered as he kissed her head. They both fell asleep cuddled in each other's arms.

"Lauren, Lauren, LO WAKE UP WEVE GOT REHERSAL!" Joey yelled as he nudged Laurens tiny arms.

"No Darren left I don't wanna get up." She muttered.

"No Darren hasn't left yet but if you don't get up you will miss him" She quickly jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom to get changed. Darren had left early and would next see his friends at the airport waiting to say goodbye.

The mood in rehearsal that day was pretty glum. Joey had told the other starkids who all felt for Lauren. Even though the others hardly go to see Darren anyway him moving to a different country had that one beat.

"Hey Lauren" Brain called from the kitchen. She walked up to him and rested her head on his chest as he softly placed his hands around her.

"you going to the airport later?"

"Of course I am Bri" She whispered.

"Hey listen, it might hurt now, but were going to go on tour meet a bunch iof fans and have a great time, remember how much fun we had last time?"

"Yeah is was pretty fun" She smiled.

"Exactly, and I would be crushed if you didn't come on tour with us" She stared up at him and gazed into his big dreamy eyes.

"Would you know" She said in a flirty tone. She placed her hands around his neck and placed a soft kiss on his lips.

"Lo, what is going on with us exactly?"

"I don't know, are we like mates or are we dates?"

"I guess there's only one way to find out... Lauren would you go out on a date with me?"

"Of course Bri"

"Congrats guys" Nick said from around the corner trying to hold back the tears. It all clicked into place. Lauren dropped her hands from Brian's neck and looked down at the floor. He loved me she thought, he really loved me. She ran out the door and chased after nick.

"Nick, stop, please" she ran faster. She reached out her hand and grabbed his arm pulling him towards her. In one swift motion he was pulled right in front of Lauren who kissed him on the lips. As soon as they pulled away Nick smiled.

"Thanks Lauren"

"What for?"

"I've wondered how that felt, to be kissed by you."

"And now you have, so you really like me? The whole thing you were saying in the restaurant about him being closer than I think. I'm so sorry Nick, it must be terrible to like someone and not have them love you back."

"Ahh its okay, it's worth it, now stop spending time out here with me and go back in there and go get Brain."

"Wait what" Lauren asked confused

"I told you I got to kiss you and that's all I ever wanted. The feeling will still be there but I've always loved you Lo so nothing's changed."

"I love you too Nick" Lauren squeezed him tight before going back inside.

"You really are amazing Nick" She called as he walked down the street and back into his car after dropping off the new script.

"I know" he replied.

**Heyy guys sorry its a short chapter! Please keep commenting here and on my twitter MoonShoesKirsty :D Thanks you all the best x**


	6. Chapter 6

Lauren sat there, shaking, tears falling onto her lap. She didn't know what to do with herself. Her breath was sharp and it began to hurt her. It didn't sink in what had just happened to her. She sat there on the wall beginning to feel slightly sick and dizzy. Her breath became sharper and quicker, her chest started to hurt more with every breath. She placed her hands on her chest and let out a little scream. She screamed louder as her heart was pounding. Her legs began to go numb and her hand felt like a thousand cramps. Her eyes suddenly became heavier and heavier, her breath more sharp. Her head started to become weak and fell back and the rest of her body followed. Her small body fell off the wall and onto the grass behind her. She froze, she couldn't move any muscle in her body. Her breath finally became slower but her eyes still getting heavier. Suddenly she felt sudden peace. Her whole body was still her eyes were closed and her arms by her side. The clouds above disappeared and the sun began to shine.

1 hour earlier...

"Hey Lo, is Nick okay?" Brian asked as she walked back in the door.

"Yeah he's great" She smiled. "Wait where's Joey gone?"

"Oh he's gone back to his flat he said something about Darren being there and he left his book so he's gone to get it" Julia answered awkwardly.

"why cant Darren just bring it when he comes here?" Lauren asked

"Ummm Darren he ... he... he went to the shop straight after he called Joey. Yeah he went to get a few things so he will be here soon. " Jaime added.

"Oh ok what has he gone to get?"

"Red vines! He went to get red vines" Dylan shouted, all the other guys shouted at him

"Hang on a minute Darren hates red vines you know he does. He used to hate eating them in AVPS!"

"Red vines I mean twizlers!" Dylan laughed nervously.

"GUYS I know your not telling me the truth, so were has he really gone!?" Lauren demanded

"We told you he has gone to the shops Lo" Clark replied " Now can we just get back to rehearsing please!" All the starkids gathered around the keyboard once more but Lauren wouldn't move

"Lauren come on we are rehearsing Boy toy and we need you!"

"Well then why won't you tell me where Darren and Joey are!?"

"We have okay; they have gone to the shops now please sit down!" Meredith said to her calmly.

"Why would you guys lie to me?"

"We aren't Lo, now come one they will be here in a minute" Joe said.

"If you guys are lying..."

"We aren't Lauren trust us!" Brosenthal piped up.

She walked over to her seat and opened her book that was placed under her seat. She looked at her friends who were smiling at her. She didn't believe them, but they would never lie to her. She took a breath and began to sing.

Boy boy toy you know that your my favourite boy, your my boy my ...

"Hey clark can we sing another one please?" She asked

"Umm sure Lo what you wanna sing?"

"Not alone I think Jaime should sing now!" Jaime looked at her and smiled.

"Oh okay Jaime your up" Lauren sat there in silence she didn't really wanna sing right now! She had just kissed Nick just said yes to a date with Brian and now her best friend has suddenly disappeared? She couldn't think straight so sat there and listen to Jaime sing her heart out

"Baby your not alone, cause your here with me! And nothings ever gonna bring us down cause nothing can keep me from loving you and you know it's true

Lauren began thinking about Darren again, where was he? What was he doing? Why wasn't he here? Before she knew it her questions were answered. Joey walked through the door making everyone fall silent. Lauren jumped off her seat and ran towards Joey.

"Where have you been" She yelled

"I um went to get my book" He replied

"Then why is it under your chair and not in your hand" She yelled pointing to Joeys book under the empty seat. Joey just stared at her not knowing what to say

"Where's Darren!?" She asked. Still no answer

"Joey WHERE IS HE!" she shouted even louder

"Ok hes gone! I dropped him off at the airport. His flight leaves in 20 minutes." Joey dropped his head scred at her reaction

"He's gone... and he didn't tell me?" she turned towards the other starkids. "You knew, you all knew and none of you told me! Darren is about to leave for a year and no one bother d to tell me that hes gone! "

"Lo we did it for you, we didn't want you to be upset at seeing him leave!" Julia said

"And you think this way is better for me! That I'm not hurting right now, that I'm just gonna get over it and go back to this stupid tour! I HAVE FEELINGS YOU KNOW! You guys lied to me!" She started tearing up and so did the others.

"I'm so sorry Lo he told us not to tell you" Joey finally said.

"And you listened to him! We are talking about the guy how gets lost on the way to his own flat!"

"We are so sorry Lo!" Meredith told her now in tears.

"I don't want your apology okay and don't want any of you to apologise I don't even want to look at you right now ... I ... I ... I HATE YOU!" Lauren screamed and ran out the room. She ran outside, down the stairs and along the road. She carried on down the road focussing on getting to the airport before Darren left. She looked up to see a raindrop fall on her head. As she ran the raindrop turned into tens which turned into hundreds which turned into millions. Her arms started shaking as the rain became heavier. Lauren ran and ran as fast as she could along the road. She was running out of breath but kept going; eventually she passed a sign, LA Airport 2 miles to go. He little legs were going at full speed as tears slid of her face with how fast she was going. Lauren's hair kept whipping her face as ran faster down the road; cars and passers by were looking at her complaining at her for being in the way. She didn't care, her heart was beating too fast now and she started feeling faint, however she powered through and kept on going. Her hair was drenched with rain and her legs tired from running; she carried on increasing her pace as she went. Lauren may be small but she sure is fast. A good two miles later Lauren could finally see the top of the airport. She started to slow down as she ran out of breath. Come on Lauren. You can do this...

"FOR DARREN" she yelled as once again she picked up speed and ran into the car park and towards the entrance. Ah she finally made it into the airport she shook her head getting the wet hair off her face and tried to search for Darren. Suddenly she was bashed into by two girls who were running into the airport.

"Where ever Darren is fans follow" She whispered to her self. She carried on running again but this time following the two girls. Ashe got closer she saw more and more people crowding around her best friend. She saw his head slowly bobbing up and down in the crowd. He hadn't left yet.

"DARREN!" she yelled. He turned around to face her, she stared at her for a while before smiling at her.

"LO!" he shouted as her forced his way through the crowd. They both ran towards each other greeting one another with a tight hug in the middle. They held each other in an embrace until Darren felt Lauren shiver.

"Lauren why are you soaked?"

"They wouldn't tell me you came here so I ran all the way here and it began raining..."

"Wait you ran here? For me?"

"Of course I did you didn't tell me... why" she asked tears flowing down her cheek

"I didn't want to do this"

"What?"

"Say goodbye" Darren began to tear up as Lauren gave him a big squeeze around the waist.

"Why are you saying goodbye, your coming back right?"

"Yeah, yeah I am Lo" he said as his tears were now falling onto Laurens head.

"Promise me you will never leave me like that ever again!"

"Of course I won't Lo, I promise. "

_All passengers on the 22 flight to London, England please make your way to security thankyou_

Lauren stared at him.

"Well that's me Lo" He cried

"Darren I don't want you to go... please "

"I have to, I don't want to now"

"Then stay with me, please!"

"Please Lauren don't make this any harder for the both of us!"

"I cant wait a year Darr I just cant!"

"I promise I will come back when I'm finished, but because of time zones its gonna be very hard to keep in touch!"

"I'm gonna miss you Darr bear!"

"I'm gonna miss you to LoLo" He grabbed her one more time into a hug and whispered in her ear.

"Now promise me one thing when I'm gone you will go on that tour have a really great tour and forget about me?"

"What I cant forget about you?"

"Just live your life; I will be back for now have fun!"

"I promise"

_Final calls for all 22 passengers to London, England, please make your way towards security thank you_

"Well Goodbye Lo"

"Bye Darren" Darren kissed Lauren softly on the cheek and looked into her brown eyes. He picked her up and swung her round before putting her back on the floor again.

"Bye Lo" He walked away towards the security, he turned around and waved goodbye to Lauren who was stood there in tears. Darren began to cry even more as he dropped his hand and walked round the corner out of sight. Laurens heart sank. She started breathing faster and ran out of the airport. She ran out of the door and across the car park to a small wall at the edge. She sat down and began to cry heavier as the rain continued to pour down on her. Lauren sat there, shaking, tears falling onto her lap. She didn't know what to do with herself. Her breath was sharp and it began to hurt her. It didn't sink in what had just happened to her. She sat there on the wall beginning to feel slightly sick and dizzy. Her breath became sharper and quicker, her chest started to hurt more with every breath. She placed her hands on her chest and let out a little scream. She screamed louder as her heart was pounding. Her legs began to go numb and her hand felt like a thousand cramps. Her eyes suddenly became heavier and heavier, her breath more sharp. Her head started to become weak and fell back and the rest of her body followed. Her small body fell off the wall and onto the grass behind her. She froze, she couldn't move any muscle in her body. Her breath finally became slower but her eyes still getting heavier. Suddenly she felt sudden peace. Her whole body was still her eyes were closed and her arms by her side. The clouds above disappeared and the sun began to shine.

**Sorry it took so long ive been busy with coursework as its all new to me! I hope you like it please keep commenting and thank you :) You really are the best! xx**


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry it took so long :) Please keep commenting cause i might end it in the next chapter i dont know if you want me to carry on!**

Brian stood by her bed holding her hand. He was the only one in her room as he was the only one that knew. Lauren began shivering inside her bed as Brian got up to get her another blanket. He softly placed it on top of her and sat back down next to her bed.

"Lo, what were you thinking?" Brain asked

"I was thinking I was gonna lose my best friend." She replied softly

"Did you get to see him?"

"Yeah I did and that's what really matters"

"Yeah but Lo, now your Ill and we have a tour in 2 weeks! How are you going to rehearse?"

"I'm sure I will be okay to dance." She sat up in her bed to be greeted by a wave of pain in her head.

"Nope maybe not" She whined as she lay back down

"Well you can't stay here alone"

"Why not?"

"Because you I don't wanna leave you" Brian leaned closer to Lauren

"Bri you will get sick"

"I don't care" He kissed Lauren on the lips.

"Well you can't leave now" She smiled. She pulled him back in for another Kiss.

"Okay guys so Lauren is ill and Brian is over there looking after her!" Joey began as he walked into the rehearsal room

"Laurens ill?" Jaime asked as she gave Joey a hug

"Yeah turns out she ran to the airport in that storm to see Darren and now she has a fever and stuff"

"Awww poor LoLo" Brian said sticking his bottom lip out

"So what are we going to do about the tour?" Julia piped up

"Yeah we cant do this thing without Lo" Joe shouted

"Well were gonna have to rehearse without her and hopefully next week she will be up and ready to rehearse again with the band." Clark said reassuringly

"Okay but wait why is Brian looking after her? Surely you should Joey you live there!" Dylan asked

"well Brian was already there as hers the one who found her but I'm pretty sure theres something going on between them!" Joey answered

"But I thought Darren likes Lauren?"

"Yeah and he's gone to England for a year so nothings gonna happen so soon?" Joey said

"So they are like a thing now?" Meredith asked

"I really have no idea and don't think they do either"

The rehearsal process was just like any other. They sang, they laughed, they danced, they laughed, they ate, and they laughed. Just a normal day of the starkids.

Lauren and Brian had now managed to make their way to the couch in the living room. Brian sat down on the end and let Lauren lie down across him.

"Hey you wanna watch a film?" Lauren asked

"Sure why not"

Brian turned on the DVD played and pressed play.

"Ahhh a bit of HP hey?" He winked

"Yeah Joey was watching it yesterday"

"Well lets continue to watch it"

"Ohh this is my fave bit" Lauren yelled

"Oh yeah the bit where Hermione clearly likes Ron but they don't say anything!"

"It kind of reminds me of something"

"You mean us?"

"Yeah Bri"

"What is us exactly?"

"I don't know? I mean a few days ago we kissed and you said to leave it for a while and then you asked me out on a date but I said leave it and then we kissed again but were not like dating are we?"

"Do you want to Lo?"

Lauren froze, even though she was mad about Brian she wasn't ready for a relationship, not while Darren was gone. She looked at Brains face and saw his gorgeous smile. She couldn't do it, she couldn't start a relationship on a lie just like Joe did to her.

"Lauren do you? Do you wanna be my girlfriend?"

"Bri... I ...i... no"

"What?"

"I can't be your girlfriend"

"And why is that?" Brains smile faded

"look I don't want a relationship right now especially while Darren .."

"You know what Lo Joe was right, you do like Darren and guess what hes gone okay he didn't stay so that means your little fairytale it over!" Brain got up off the sofa and stormed out of the flat. Lauren sat there staring at the telly. What has she done? Brian hated her! But this wasn't because of Darren. Was it? She had never ever thought she liked Darren so why does everyone keep saying that! As she finished the thought, her phone began to ring. It was Darren. Lauren picked up the phone, but simply put it back down again. She couldn't do it, she couldn't talk to him, not now! Not while she had no idea what was going on between them or her and Brian.

For Lauren the next two weeks flew by. She didn't talk to anyone in rehearsals and no one asked why. Joey tried to get it out of her at home but she just locked herself in her room and at night cried herself to sleep. Lauren thought this couldn't get any worse that was until she saw the magazines the next day.

"Lauren get up... come on Lo I need to show you something!" Joey screamed through the door. Lauren rolled over and placed the pillow over her ears.

"Lo open this door right now its very important." Lauren didn't move. She heard her phone buzzing so looked up at the screen. She read a text from Darren :

**_Lo, Listen to Joey now! It's very Important trust me! Oh and good luck i know its gonna be harder for you than me xxx Darren J_**

What did he mean good luck? Lauren was now scared to even read the thing Joey was holding outside her door. But taking Darren's word she got up out of bed and went to unlock the door. She opened it to be greeted my Joey storming in to her room.

"Joey what's going on?" She went and joined him back on the bed

"Joey come on spill!" Joey said nothing. He turned to face her and put a pile of magazines infront of her.

"Whats going on?" Lauren looked down at the pile

"Just look" he pointed back down to the pile in front of her

"Well okay then" Lauren picked up the magazine on the top and read out loud

"The New lead of hit show Glee may have found his new leading lady!" Lauren looked down to see a picture of Herself hugging Darren at the airport.

"Oh no" She cried

"Carry on" Joey replied

"Darren Criss has now been made a lead on the hit TV programme Glee and every lead needs a leading lady right? Well he might have just found one! Darren was spotted at LAX airport 2 weeks ago with a friend from collage getting quite cosy so are they just friends? Many fans have already took to tumblr and twitter to say their outrage on the mystery girl! ... Mystery girl I'm a mystery girl?"

"Well you are to them as they cant see your face!"

"Thats not that bad though is it?" She picked up the next magazine and read out loud again.

"Has Blaine found his Warbler?... What the hell is that!" She laughed before carrying on reading.

"Darren may have just found his match! After going through an off again off again relationship is it time for him to settle down?" Lauren started to frown. She looked at all the magazines in turn

"Is she fit for Darren? From what we can see no! Darren deserves someone with model quality!... Glee star and star of how to succeed is definitely straight! Unless this mystery girl is just his cover up, well she doesn't look like star quality or good enough for him!? ... Darren have you gone blind? I hope you could see her blind just like we could!" Lauren began to cry. She looked at one more magazine before running out the room and into the bathroom. Joey ran after her putting the magazines in the bin as he went.

"Lolo please don't make me do this again and open the door!"

"No" She cried. Joey could tell she was really upset

"Lo your the best girl I've ever met okay, and come on I've met Lea Freaking Michele!" Lauren let out a little giggle

"Well they don't seem to think so"

"Lauren forget about them! They are the ones who are blind"

"Yeah but Joey they are the ones who people listen too!"

Joey knew what he had to do. He picked up the phone and got Darren on the phone

"Darren I need you to do something for me!" He whispered down the phone

After a couple of hours Joey finally managed to get Lauren out of the bathroom and into the living room. He guided her to the sofa and sat her down.

"Joey I don't wanna watch tangled" she moaned

"No we are not going to watch Tangled don't worry! We are going to watch Hollywood beat!"

"Why you know I hate that show! I mean like everyone watched it and I don't like being mainstream!"

"Exactly everyone watches it!" Joey turned on the telly. They sat there watching it until the woman began an announc ment.

" Hello there beaters! We have a very special thin today we have reporters over in England at a hotel where they have found Glee's hit star Darren Criss! We are now going to go there live"

"DARREN!" Lauren screamed, she stared at the telly in confusion

"We are here at the hotel of one Mr Darren Criss, now he has been over here for about two weeks shooting his new movie and two weeks ago was when he was spotted with his mystery girl. Theory is they could have been saying goodbye." At this point Lauren frowned.

"Oh and here he is now! Darren!" Darren walked over to the presenter looking like he had to say something. Lauren looked worried.

"Darren how are you liking Britain?"

"Its amazing! I really love it over here!" He replied

"So are you missing anyone back home? Cause I heard your out here for a year?"

"Yeah I'm missing a lot of people back home and yeah I'm here for a year!"

"Any girl in particular" Darren didn't answer

"Now Darren we have seen you with a mystery girl and she looks quite rough in the images! You wanna give an explanation of who she is?"

"Yeah her name is Lauren Lopez and I have known her for 5 years, she is the bestest friend I have ever had okay! No let me re phrase that she is the best thing that has happened to me! I love Lo and I don't care what anyone says! She is the prettiest girl in the world and she should be proud! She should be on those covers as she is a cover girl. She is a superstar! And you can go and hate that we are so close but that is never gonna change we are always gonna be best friends and people are just gonna have to deal with it! And Lo I miss you like crazy!" Lauren sat in her seat and began to smile.

"So is there anything in the future for you two? Like a relationship? Because you seem quite close?"

"All I'm gonna say I love her "With this Darren walked away back into his hotel.

Lauren jumped off the sofa and ran into her room. She grabbed her phone and laid down on her bed. He phone started ringing

"Heloo Darren"

"Lo I'm so glad you rang"

"I love you Darren"


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N Hi guys thanks for the reviews your all totaly awesome ;D I decided to add a little bit more of brerdith and joey and jaime in this chapter! This chapter begins with Brain and Lauren in her apartment ! Enjoy ;D **

I love you Brian but I'm not IN love with you. I've had it done to me by Joe and I don't want to start a relationship with you based on lies." She grabbed Brian's hand and held it tight. "Don't get me wrong Bri that date and kiss was totally awesome. " Brain giggled at her choice of words.

"Yeah, lo it would have been so nice to call you my girlfriend you know that don't you. A hundred guys out there are wanting to have the privilege to do that." Lauren looked up at him.

"What, guys want to date me?"

"Yeah of course, you've had loads of guys after you. And I guess Darren is one lucky guy to get that privilege." Lauren sat back in her seat and winced at Darren's name.

"Bri can I ask you something?"

"Of course you can Lo"

"Do you think me and Darren are right for each other?"

"Lauren listen, I know you don't want to hear it but I think you should open up your heart to him. I'm not saying your perfect but if you can be so happy and comfortable around someone you should give them a chance. And I know you and Darren are best friends like brother and sister but relationships can change. Maybe yours can?"

"Does Darren love me... Like really love me?"

"Lo I ..." Brain looked down away from Lauren, she grabbed his head so he was in her eyesight.

"Brian I know you know, please tell me, I need you to." Brian looked into her brown eyes and gave in

"He told me..." Brian stuttered.

"Bri please, its killing me not knowing. Yes or no?"

Lauren walked into the rehearsal room for the last time. All the stuff was packed up in boxes ready for the departure tomorrow. Brain trailed behind her and hugged her from behind.

"Are you okay lo?" He whispered

"Never better"

"oi you to love birds you woke me up this morning what were you doing?" Joey yelled as they made it further into the room.

"We weren't doing anything okay I came over to tell Lauren something"

"And what was that."

"Hey Lolo your here! Now come and help me and Meredith with the make up!" Julia yelled from the kitchen

"Why cant Jaime do it?"

"No Jaime needs to stay here I need to speak to her" Joey said as placed his legs over hers and kissed her on the cheek.

"Oh right I get you." Lauren said as she trailed into the kitchen.

"Right guys what did you need to tell her?" Dylan asked.

Brian walked over to the rest of the starkids and sat down with them making a secret huddle so Lauren wouldn't hear.

"Well he rang me last night because Lauren had told him what happened with us."

"what happened with you two?" Joe piped up

"well we messed around and went out on a date but it had a horrible ending."

"Wait you and Lauren messed around!" Jaime screamed

"Yes but that doesn't matter ok I like Meredith anyway.."

"Ooooh you love Meredith!" Clark started singing.

"Guys! Back to the story please! Right so he rang me and started asking if I was alright, I said yes of course. I then told him that Lauren was missing him loads and that's why we ended in the first place. So he started asking me questions about Lauren."

"QUESTIONS! I need details" Brosenthal shouted

"Well first he asked what she was saying so I said that she misses him a lot and wants him back. And then he asked me if she loves him like in that way and I said no, because that's what she told me well she hasn't really gave me a clear answer. So I said why do you car do you love her that way? He went quiet for a minute , I obviously knew that meant he did so I told him that Lauren is too scared to open up her heart to him and that why she says no but she know she does. He then just says thank you and I will see you soon. Make sure she doesn't see anyone else until his plane lands in a few days!"

"in a few days, its not been a year yet has it?" Dylan asked

"No dyl, exactly Darren is coming back over here to tell Lauren he loves her when she will just backfire him and well we might not see him again!"

"So why you telling us this?" Joey asked

"Because I want to see Darren again so its our job to get Lauren to realise that not everyone will hurt her and that she should give Darren a chance before he gets here and we have to keep his arrival a complete secret from her and make it a grand entrance!"

"Gotcha! I know I will get her over for a sleepover and I will start work on her first!" Jaime said.

"Good and then on tour we can you know mention Darren's name a couple of times and make her realise her true feelings for him." Clark announced.

"We got a plan?" Brian asked

"Sure Do" They all said together. Meredith walked in the room with her makeup freshly done. Brain turned and stared at her.

"Wow Meredith"

He turned to look at the others who were nudging him to ask her out.

"Hey mere can I talk to you outside for a minute?"

"Sure Bri" They both walked swiftly out of the room and left the other starkids behind.

"Bye guys!" Jaime called as her and Lauren began walking to her apartment. Jaime linked arms with Lauren and began her work.

"So Lo did you here Brain and Meredith are going on a date?"

"How could I not, I walked in on them in the hall way . I'm glad he finally asked her!"

"You mean now you don't have to deal with him?"

"No that's not what I mean Jaims okay! I didn't want him to get hurt they way I did"

"And what makes you think he would have got hurt? He liked you Lo and thats all that mattered to him!"

"Yeah but..."

"But what Lo" Jaime's voice became stern

"what if a guy like a girl as a friend, but recently let's say the girl has recently said goodbye to this guy and now she's realised that her feelings are stronger than they used to, maybe she loves him, and wants more than to be friends? And what if she knew the guy like her that way back but didn't want to get hurt again?" Lauren looked down to avoid eye contact. Jaime knew exactly what she was talking about.

"Well that girl should take a chance on that guy. I mean not straight away, she should wait at least two hours of him returning of course!" Lauren giggled

"But the girl should think to herself is this guy the type that will hurt her? Or the one that goes on international TV and says how much she loves her in front of the whole world?" Lauren smiled at this memory. As they kept walking they passed the park and saw two very familiar faces sitting on the bench. As they walked closer they could see Brain and Meredith sitting on the bench holding hands. He took his hand and brushed a piece of loose hair behind her ear. He smiled nervously and watched Meredith mirror his smile. He said something to her before talking a deep breath and kissed her on the lips. This kiss then got more passionate every second and soon turned into a making out session. They both were so happy in this very moment.

"See they took a chance and look how happy they are with the result, maybe this girl should do the same thing. "

Jaime looked down at her phone to see a new text from Joey.

**_Heyy babe does Lo mind if I come over and join in with your sleepover, I really wanna do what we did last night again ;) And plus I'm scared to sleep in the flat alone xxx Jo Jo_**

**_Of course you can honey ;D xxx Jaims_**

Lauren looked at Jaimes phone and thought about her phone call with Darren again last night.

"See Lolo you could be like this to, you've just gotta take a deep breath and fall"

"Thanks Jaims" Lauren smiled.

As they got to the apartment Joey was already waiting for them outside.

"You know what Joey we should get you a key" Jaime smiled.

Jaime walked up to him and squeezed him tight before he placed a soft kiss on her lips. Lauren stood there and smiled, she loved how happy they were together especially now it was their 3 year anniversary in a couple of months. She imagined Darren's face in her mind smiling at her. Shortly after she heard his sweet sounding voice in her head.

_Just fall miss Lopez, or should I say Mrs. Criss, you deserve to be happy_

Lauren quickly blinked to get the image out of her head and walked inside with the other two. She couldn't wait to go on tour and forget about Darren. That night was spent with the three of them talking about the tour and watching Disney films. Lauren sat there left alone as Joey and Jaime went to refill the popcorn in the kitchen. They both walked back in smiling and sat either side of Lauren.

"What you guys doing?" She asked creped out

"Just wanna sit next to my best girl bud!" Joey said

"Oh okay so this has nothing to do with getting me with Darren?"

"Wait what?"

"Jaime made it a bit clear of why she invited me here earlier when we walked past Brian and Meredith"

"I just want you to be happy Lo" Joey smiled.

"And what would make me happy is if everyone would just leave I about Darren okay I'm not gonna tell you how I feel about him, because I can't! Okay there are no words and no description to say how I'm feeling about him. So please its nice of you to try but leave it okay?"

Lauren stood up and walked into the bedroom were she would be sleeping. She could hear Jaime and Joey talking outside the room.

"Well done Jaime, the plan was going well until you blew it!"

"Me blow it Joey it was Brains stupid idea, we should have just left them two alone to figure out whats going on between them okay! They are adults now and so are we. Maybe we should all grow up. Were not in collage anymore Joey!"

"Oh okay so you don't care if Lauren is happy?"

"Joey why are you so hooked up on lauren?"

"Because I loved her okay Jaime is that what you want to hear?"

"Yeah I know about that you used to be crazy about her before you dated me I know!"

"No you don't okay I was goanna tell you at our wedding but I think you should know now!"

"What?" Jaime sounded worried. Joey looked up at her as his smile faded.

"tell me what Joey" Lauren backed away from the door in fear. No he wasn't going to tell her?

"After starship at the party at Darrens, yeah well me and Lauren got a bit dunk and well during the seven minutes of heaven game we got a bit carried away and well went a bit further then kiss"

"Joey that was a game you were drunk no harm done!"

"No, well after that when you were downstairs with the others me and Lauren we went upstairs and well actually I asked her to come upstairs with me and she was drunk so she followed. We went into his bedroom and ... we started kissing again. That may have lead to something else, and... we... umm we"

"Joey come on I need to hear it" Jaime said in tears

"We did it... I'm sorry Jaime okay it was almost a year ago and we were completely drunk! Plus it was a one off we never did anything of the sort after that or before to be perfectly honest!"

"Wait Joey was she your first?" Joey nodded.

"That why you care so much about her"

"Yeah but when we did it I did feel a spark but Lauren left straight away because she didn't want to hurt you. She never meant to Jaime I swear and neither did I"

"Joey just go"

"What?"

"Just go Joey please" Joey stood there for a moment staring at his girlfriend who was now in tears.


	9. Chapter 9

"Jaims please, can we just talk about this" Joey begged

"We can do it tomorrow, now just go I don't want to see you right now" Jaime replied trying to stop the tears.

"But I love you"

"I you love me Joey you will leave please"

Joey froze in his tracks and headed towards the door.

"I'm so sorry Jaim I never wanted to cheat on you. Just do me a favour please!" Joey asked

"Sure"

"Don't go taking this out on Lauren okay, it's all my fault. I'm the one who had the feelings and they sent the texts not her. She just got drunk at the right time to follow what I had set up."

"I would never think of it" Jaime said as she walked over to Joey and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Bye Joey" she whispered as he wiped the tears from her cheek and walked through the door. Jaime made her way back to the sofa and sat in the seat in the middle. Slowly she wiped her tears away from her eyes and began to think.

_Joey cheated on me, no he didn't cheat he said he was drunk. It was a onetime thing jaims nothing else happened. You cant dump him because of something that happened in collage at a party. He even said he was going to tell you at your wedding. He loves you. _

"Jaim are you okay" Lauren stuttered as she sat next to her best friend. Jaime put her right arm around her and pulled her into a tight hug listening the sigh of relief coming from Lauren.

"Lo I'm not in a mood with you okay, and I promise I wont get mad, but I need you to tell me exactly what happened."

"Really? Are you going to break up with Joey because of it?" She asked

"Well we were closer than you think. " She started to fiddle with a ring on her finger and Lauren caught on.

"Oh My Gosh when!" Lauren cried grabbing Jaime's hand before she could hide it.

"Two weeks ago when I stayed over at his I found a box in the bedroom, and he saw me with it. So he sat with me on the bed and said he was planning to do it on our anniversary but I found it now so it wouldn't be a surprise. He then grabbed me hand and said, Jaime I know we have only been dating for three years but the five years I've known you have been the best years of my life. He then said I know your my fist real girlfriend but I don't want another one I just want you. He then opened the box that I was holding and then asked the question. Jaime will you marry me. " Jaime smiled as the memory played back in her head as she spoke.

"I said yes of course. We then spent the next few minutes kissing , one thing lead to another and I think you know were things went after that."

"Yeah I know Jaime its okay" Lauren smiled.

"I really love him Lo, I do"

"I know you do Jaime and because I love you I will tell you what happened."

"Thanks Lo"

She took a deep breath and began to remember that night.

"Well is started a few hours before the party, like you said Joey had a crush on me before he started dating you, and it was only a crush he got over it. So before the final night of starship he text me saying I was gonna kill it tonight because I was a bit scared. I said thank you back of course but then he text me again saying he needed to tell me something. So I met him in the green room where it was empty. He told me seeing me on stage made his crush come back. I slapped him, really hard actually and said he needed to snap out of it because he was with you, and it wasn't some silly fling you guys were serous. He said exactly he loved you and he needed help getting rid of this stupid crush. But we never had time so after the show at the party when we did seven minutes in heaven, he told me he loved me after he kissed me, but this is all I can remember because we totally drunk. So after we came out the closet I went upstairs cause I needed to pee. He followed me upstairs so when I came out the bathroom he pulled me into Darren's room. He was absolutely drunk he couldn't even stand up. I was drunk as well so I laid down on the bed, he then joined me and suddenly snapped out of his drunkenness and began kissing me again. I felt something I guess but I never knew what I was doing fully. After we did it I got up and ran out the room as my senses made it through the alcohol and to my brain. " Lauren stopped and began to choke up.

"Go on Lo, I'm not mad I swear."

"Well the next day he came to see me and we talked about what happened. We promised not to tell anyone as we didn't even want to remember it. But looks like thats not going to happen."

"Wait what was that Lo?" Jaime asked picking up on her whisper at the end"

"I said we probably wont forget it."

"Lo... OMG Lo He was your first as well wasn't he?" Jaime said holding her hand tighter. Lauren nodded but then began to cry.

"Lo its alright."

"Its not though Jaime, that not how I planned my first, and its not who I planned it with. I was meant to be with D" Lauren felt silent.

"Darren" Jaime helped her finish her sentence. "Lo, there's something you're not telling me I can tell."

"Darren and I we made a plan. We said that after graduation we would you know be each others firsts. We did this because he told me he loved me and I loved him. We wanted to remember that moment and each other forever"

"what happened Lo?"

"he came to me the day before graduation and told me he already did it with someone else. " she began to choke up again.

"I'm so sorry Lo I didn't know you liked him that much."

"I don't Jaime, I love him!"

"Lauren you need to tell him that."

"What that would do anything to kiss him, or that I cry every time someone brings up that night before graduation. Or how I die inside every time I see him some other girl because I want him, and need him." Jaime cuddled her and handed her a box of tissues.

"Lo you need to tell him how you feel, you cant go on like this."

"Jaime I know what if feels like to regret and I don't want you to go through that feeling! So tomorrow you will go to Joey before we leave for the tour and go make up with Joey. Don't loose him Jaims."

"Okay I will, if you promise the next time you see Darren you will tell him how you feel!"

"I promise." WHY, why did she promise that! There was no way that she was able to tell Darren how she feels, or how that she needs him to survive. She couldn't. But she wanted to. She wanted to tell him. She wanted him to hold her hand and kiss her in the morning and she wanted him to one day say she was his wife. This wasn't a crush anymore this was love and she had it bad.

Lauren woke up the next morning, and made her way from the sofa to the Kitchen. She grabbed a bowl of cereal and sat back down on the sofa. There was a note waiting for her when she got back.

D**ear Lo, **

**I have gone to the rehearsal room early to meet Joey. Thanks for the advice Lo last night I hope your okay. You need to tell him and tell him now! I have told him everything you told me last night about graduation and he is going to ring you later, Lo be brave you cant do this. **

**Jaime xx**

WHATT! She told him? How could she! But that didn't matter, what mattered was now was her chance to tell Darren how she felt and to actually have her dream come true. She put her cereal down as her phone started to buzz, that wasn't him already was it? Thankfully it was only a text.

**Lo I'm getting a break in a few mins so I'm going to video call you! I need to speak to you so no excuses ok! Love you D xx**

Oh Crap! It was happening and it was happening fast. Lauren ran into the bathroom and got a quick shower before raiding Jaime's closet for clothes. She hopped onto Jaime's laptop and logged on to her Skype. She sat there waiting for Darren to call, her heart pumped so fast she could hardly breath.

Relax Lo you can do this, its for Darren okay. The screen started to light up and Darren's icon flashed on the screen. She moved the mouse to accept and let it hover there for a while. After a good few minutes of waiting she clicked the button. Darren's face appeared on the screen.

"Hey Lo" He smiled

"Hey Darren" she said a little nervous.

"Right Lo we need to talk, now!" Oooh here it comes.

"Yeah"

"Hey are you okay?"

"I'm fine Darren okay."

"Lauren relax you look tense!"

"I'm not I just" No Lauren not now, she thought. It was too late. A tear came rolling down her cheek.

"Hey Lo what's wrong, come on tell me."

"I'm sorry , Darren I can't do this." Lauren stood up and walked towards the kitchen.

"Hey Lauren, Lo come back, Jaime told me everything please I need to ask you something. Lo, please" Darren began to yell.

"Lauren walked over to laptop and sat back down.

"I'm sorry Darr" She said softly as she closed the laptop. He heart sank as she sat there listening to Darren shouting through the laptop.

"Lo its okay, I know how you feel right now, so do i. I'm confused I'm scared , but I'm here ready to take a chance on you and you know why, because I love you. Not as a friend or a sister, as a wife. I love you Lo and I have since we left collage an I'm so sorry I made you feel like that because of what I did at graduation. I wish I could make up to you but I can't, and that kills me. Lo are you there? Lauren?."

Lauren sat there crying into the pillow next to her, all she could do was sit there and listen to Darren "Well I guess that all I'm goanna get out of you Lo. Bye, I love you." It was silent. The only sound that was now to be heard was the breaking of Laurens heart.

**A/N thanks for all the comments :D In the next chapter there should be more brerdith since some of you have asked for it! But the main point is still lauren so dont worry x**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N sorry for the wait ;) but here it is the next part! hope you like it ! next chapter will be a big one! leave a comment thanks x**

**s**lowly Lauren walked into the building trying to dodge all the equipment as she went. as she pushed open the door and walked into the room she noticed Jaime and Joey in the kitchen, Joey was obviously trying to explain to her what happened but by the looks of things Jaime didnt need an explanation as she rushed over to hug him. lauren gave a smile as she turned her head and saw Brian and Meredith in the other corner. she guessed they hadnt told anyone yet as they were holding hands underneath the table but everyone knew. just to the left of Lauren was Joe and Denise cuddling in the corner, they looked at her as she passed receiving a smile in return. she continued to walk over to the rest of her friends who were staring at the other couples, Lauren took her place next to Dylan and julia. ringing noises came from behind her as Brian was texting someone.

"devin" julia whispered  
Lauren sighed as Dylan pulled her closer towards him

"cheer up Lo, were going on tour today dont be blue"

"im sorry Dyl ive just got something on my mind" she looked down towards the floor as the rest of the starkids came to join them this time including corey june mark charlene pat and the rest of the team. Jaime and Joey walked in through the kitchen holding hands and stood infront of them.

"guys we have something to tell you, firstly lo im sorry for what happened at the party, i should have never took advantage of what you had."

"what did you have lo?" Dylan asked

"it dosent matter now. any way secondly a couple weeks ago i asked jaime to marry me and she said yes" Joey and jaime broke into smiles. Lauren looked at them both, obviously they made up. congratulations and good luck came from the starkids as they went into a group hug. lauren sat there watching them before Joey pulled away and lead Lauren off to the side.

"hey lo did you do it?" joey asked

"um no" lauren stuttered.

"Lo why" he sighed

"im scared" she whispered  
joey grabbed her hands and looked deep into her eyes.

" im not gonna tell you what to do okay, its your decision what you do. but im gonna tell you a little story. a few years i started collage, i was scared about it, but then i met these people who became my best friends. i then met this girl she was tough as hell. i became best friends with her and never regretted it ever. so everyday of collage i wanst scared anymore because i had her. during that time i got drunk and fell in love with my future wife i even dressed up as a dick. but this girl kept me going. she was my rock. and now after all she has done for me i am here to be her rock no matter what happens. and do you know who that girl is? her name is Lauren Lopez an she can do anything." Lauren stared up at him smiling before getting pulled into a hug.

"thanks joey"

"come on guys we need to go now if we wanna make it on time to the first show." Julia called. They all stood up and started to help carry all the equipment onto the busses. Trailing behind the others was Brian and meredith, they now had there arms wrapped around eachother with merediths head placed on his shoulder.

"hey mere dont you think we should tell them i mean joey and jaime have maybe its our turn?"

"do you want to tell them bri?"

"yeah i mean they are our friends after all"

"ok we will tell them before the first show deal"

"deal" what they didnt know was that lauren was behind them listening to their convosation.

"aww thanks Bri you think were friends!" lauren yelled as she walked in between them.

"Lo you scared me!" Brian pulled her into a on armed hug.

"so you know!" meredith asked.

" i knew ages ago me and jaime saw you on your date." oh so you spoke to Darren latley"  
Lauren froze

"no" she answered abit to quickly

"ok i was just asking" Brian replied.

"im sorry Bri i had a bad night." lauren skipped ahead of them towards julia to get her name on the A bus list. this list included Jaime, Joey, Corey, clark, Brian r, charlene, megan and mark. on the other Brian, meredith, Joe, Dylan, Julia, liam, pat and Jim. Lauren jumped onto bus A and tried to decided which bunk to get, she stood in the middle of the bus and looked. there were 9 bunks. 4 to her left 4 to her right and one located at the back of the bus. she walked towards the back and threw her stuff onto the single bunk , she didnt really want to socialize right now so took this bunk for a reason. Lauren hopped onto the bunk lay down and shut the curtain. she could hear the others talking outside while putting the last of the equipment. they were all laughing about the arrival of jims costume

"behold the mighty margeret!" jim shouted

"ahhh dont hurt me" Jaime laughed

"back away from my woman!"joey cried shortly followed by a whale of laughter, lauren assumed joey had fallen over.

"joey are you ok hun"jaime asked

"im fine babe" joey replied  
Lauren heard the door of the bus open and quickly turned of the light which was right next to her bunk.

"this is my bunk! " joey yelled as he turned the light back on not noticing lauren in the bunk.

"ok but this ones mine" brian called

"jaime, charlene and megan why dont you go on the three in the middle and i will take this empty one. what about you mark and clark?" corey asked

"im having this one at the top." clark replied.

"i want this one on the bottom" mark said.

"and looks like that one has already been taken" clark said pointing to laurens bunk

"just leave her guys she will come out when shes ready" joey replied.

"oh okay, shall we go check the tvs" brian asked

"to the tvs!" mark shouted.  
lauren could hear the voices of her friends getting fainter as they moved further down the bus.  
she rolled over and placed her head on the pillow,the time on her clock read 6:05 am. she would get out of the bunk around about 11 she thought for some dinner. she closed het eyes and tried to get her mind off darren.

you make me feel like im living a teenage dream  
lauren turned over and clasped her hand over her ear

the way you turn me on i cant sleep lets run away and dont ever look back.

she turned over again and realised it was her ringtone. she grabbe her phone and noticed an unknown number, she answered it with a very croaky hello.

"hello Lauren" she recognised that soft velvety voice, how each word felt like silk.

"darren what are you doing why is it an unknown number."

"im ringing on a different phone, its the only way i could get you to talk to me."  
before Lauren thought it through she had hung up the phone. however it rang again.

"lo why are you avoiding me"

"i dont want to talk to you right now"

"why not? what are you afraid of ive already told you how i feel."

"yeah but darren they are just words at the mo…."

"your right lo they are just words thats why you wont tell me how you feel. i nee to show you how i feel. face to face"

" Darren please just leave it, i dont want to talk about that right now, i want to do this tour come back and maybe then we can talk."

" umm i dont think i cam wait till the end of the tour."

"why not"

"ive gotta go now lo have nice time bye!" all she could hear was the ringing tone when darren had hung up. she saw the curtain move and heard soft voices outside.

"joey dont push im trying to listen to lo" clark whispered.

" what are they saying?" Brian added.

" i dont know be quiet." jaime called  
Lauren had a plan she pick up her phone and pretended to talk down it so they could hear.

"hey darren i need to tell you something, i love you and i wanna be your girlfriend!" she could hear i told you so being shouted through the curtain.

"whats that darren? you want me to tell the others they should get away from the curtain and stop interfering with us?!"

" Lo!" Mark called as he pulled back the curtain.

"guys why?" Lauren asked

"we are worried about you, we want you to be happy."

"do you know what would really make me happy if the name Darren os not mentioned throughout this tour!" the rest of them noded.

"and you know what else would make me happy? Pancakes!"

"Yeah!" they all shouted

"i will ring julia and ask if we can stop for pancakes!" corey stated.  
lauren closed the curtain once again but was stopped by clark grabbing the curtain half way.

"come on mrs i want a word with you" clark demanded. He grabbed her hand, helped her down off the bunk and lead her towards the other end of the bus. they both sat down on the sofa and shut the sliding door.

"there has been a slight change of plan, Jaime has decided to … back out of not alone so we need you to take her and um Brian will be singing …..d…part" before she knew it Brian came through the door and sat next to them.

"Bri how did you get onto the bus?"

"im a really fast runner" Brian smiled.

"okay guys lets start from the beginning uh Brian you dont need to um try so hard" clark looked at Brian who returned with a nod. they were definitely up to something.

"so Lauren you up for the challenge"

"of course" Lauren smiled  
after a few hours of rehearsing the bus stopped and the starkids were unloading in their first venue house of blues chicago. it was nice to be back in chicago, they had decided to rehearse in NYC this year so going back to chicago was nice. Brian and Lauren were pretty ill rehearsed so they would practise again during the sound check. As the starkids all jumped out of the busses they grabbed a case and dragged it into the venue. Lauren grabbed a case before immediately slamming it back down again,she grabbed another one and ran into the venue. Dylan ran to the case he dropped to see darrens guitar lying there.

"hey guys who brought Darrens guitar?" he yelled

"oh i must have picked up his instead of mine" clark confessed. " i don't think lo took it well"

Inside Lauren sat on the stage with Brian and went over not alone, when Brian joined in with Darrens part she got shivers down her spine. Oh how she wished this would all be over soon.


	11. Chapter 11

Lauren's heart started to race, she grabbed her mic and stood by the backstage door. The door opened slowly as she tried not to alarm the others, she rested herself against the wall breathing in the fresh cold air. This was a new feeling for Lauren she had never been nervous before especially for any starkid show. once again the door opened but this time she stepped back inside crashing into joey as she went.

"hey joey are you okay?" she mumbled

"agh Lauren um hi what you doing here.?" Lauren stared at him confused.

"um i was just getting some air."

"oh um well good luck with that...you know what i gotta go." Joey pushed her out the way and headed out the door..

"hey Joey is he he.r... woha Lauren ... gaahhh ... um hi Lo if you excuse me." soon after that encounter Brian fled out the door just like Joey and left Lauren even more puzzled than before.

"Hey Joey can you see...Lo hi got to go!" Jaime followed the other two out the door skipping past Lauren as she went. Something was going on and to be honest she didnt want to know.

"Guys 10 minutes to Showtime everyone gather in!" Julia shouted as she pulled the gang into a group hug, Lauren ran over to them and squeezed in between Dylan and Clark. They all put their hands into the middle of the circle and began to listen to Julia.

"Okay guys so this is our first night, and hopefully there are no mess ups but if there are just laugh it off and carry on got it!"

"Oh how i love your talks Julia!" Dylan laughed.

They all began to bounce their hands up and down threes ties as they chanted

"1 2 3 DIKRATS!" They all shouted together as they all began to get their mics from the table and headed towards the tent. Lauren looked back for the other 3 who were now four. She couldnt quite see who it was though, the mystery person was wrapped up in a black coat with a hat pulled down over their forehead and s scarf wrapped up to their chin. They walked away from the others and disappeared around the corner. Brian and Jaime joined the cue as Joey ran onto the stage and began to sing, she decided she would ask them later what they were up to. Before she knew it she was clambering out of the white tent and singing her heart out with Jaime and Meredith. The wind coming from the wind machine blew in her hair making her go blind for a few seconds every time she turned around, she grabbed her mic and ran to the other end of the stage to watch Dylan and Brian perform. Before they knew it they were halfway through the show, Lauren and Brian stood nervously in the wings this was the moment of truth for both of them.

"You ready Lolo?" Brain asked as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah I guess I mean its not like anything major is going to happen is it?" Lauren winked and walked forward to the edge of the stage and waited for the lights go down.

"We will see about that" Brian muttered under his breathe before shortly following her.

"You ready Lo? And go..." Julia whispered in her ear. Slowly Lauren walked out onto the stage and heard the roar of the crowd screaming her name. Holding her mic to her mouth she began to sing.

"Ive been alone, surrounded by darkness and I've seen how heartless the world can be."

She paused and looked up into the crowd, she noticed a sign right in the back of the crowd with hearts as a border. In the middle was a group picture of them with small pictures around the edges, in the left corner was a picture of Jaime and Joey in the right was Brain and Meredith bottom left was Joe and Denise. Lauren looked in the bottom right corner and saw a picture of her and Darren with 'Larren 3' written underneath, she closed her eyes and saw Darren's face.

" And I've seen you crying you felt like its hopeless I'll always do my best to make you see Cause baby your not alone cause your here with me and nothings ever gonna bring us down cause nothing can keep me from loving you and you know its true it don't matter what what'll come to be are love is all we need to make it through."

It all clicked into place, she loved him Lauren loved Darren Everett Criss, she needed him there with her she needed to be loved by him she need him to hug her and tell her everything will be okay she needed him. Darren made her feel alive, safe, perfect. She wanted him here, she wanted to feel his skin against hers, she wanted him. Darren was her soul mate, her protector, her everything. Lauren shook her head and wished Brian would hurry up and get on the stage. She turned to face him in the wings and sang her next line.

"Now I know it aint easy" She sang still staring at Brian waiting for him to join in.

"No it aint easy." She could hear the whole crowd roaring and screaming chanting his name. But Brian hadn't moved, or even picked up his mic, it wasn't him singing. Slowly she turned on the ball of her heels and turned to face him.

"But it aint hard trying" Lauren continued

"So hard trying" Darren repeated as he walked over to her and held her hand in his making Laurens heart jump.

"everytime I see you smiling and I feel you so close to me. Tell me" Lauren managed to sing the line even with Darren edging closer.

"Baby your not alone cause your here with me and nothings ever gonna bring us down cause nothing can keep me from loving you and you know its true it don't matter what what'll come to be are love is all we need to make it through" They both sounded amazing together, Darren looked right into Laurens eyes like he was sending some sort of message, he gripped tighter onto Laurens hand before pulling away and moving to the opposite side of the stage.

"Now I still have trouble I trip and stumble trying to make sense of this sometimes" They way he was looking at Lauren its like he really meant the words he was singing. Lauren moved her eyes a little to the left to see all the starkids had now made their way to the wings and were now watching them. Everything came together inside Laurens head. It was them all them, the sudden song change, the man in the coat before, the rushing past her before, the extra bunk on the busses, she didn't know to love them or hate them right now. Jaime and Joey stared at her moving their hands towards Darren. Clark held up a sign as all the starkids pointed.

**_Lauren, Your welcome now go get him. This might be your only shot your not alone_**

She looked at her friends as they all smiled, they were right she wanted him so she needed to make a move, but not now not here on stage she would do it as soon as the song finished. This did not go to plan. Darren was already now by her side once again with an arm around her stroking it gently. He looked down at her and winked.

"I look for reasons but I don't need them." Darren made it down on knee and looked up at Lauren smiling.

"all I need is to look into your eyes and I realise Baby your not alone cause your here with me and nothings ever gonna bring us down cause nothing can keep me from loving you and you know its true it don't matter what what'll come to be are love is all we need to make it through"

Lauren was in a daze, she forgot to sing along with Darren, the way he was singing and looking into her eyes she knew he wanted her, and she was right he did. While Lauren was busy fantasizing about Darren he himself was doing the same. He wanted to call Lauren his girlfriend he want to be with her for the rest of his life, make her dreams come true, tell her how beautiful she was everyday he was his life she kept him breathing. He got lost in the moment and everyone had disappeared, he was doing it, he had leant in to kiss her. The crowd let out a scream and cheers of "Larren" as they were supportive of the couple. Lauren looked at him and noticed what was happening, she turned away from him and ran away from the stage. Darren looked up and stared frozen on the spot.

"Darren hey buddy, aww lucked out huh? Hahaha Gotcha we love playing jokes on you." Joey ran onto the and tried to improvise as Jaime ran to find Lauren. A few minutes later Jaime, Joey and Darren had now left the others singing different as can be and set out to find lauren. Jaime checked the dressing room and the toilets as Joey checked the bus. Darren was one step ahead, if anybody knew Lauren inside out it was Darren. He remembered when they were in collage and him and Lauren went to do a show, she had got a bit nervous and ran away to the stalls. He remembered her saying that when she is stressed or confused she would like to sit up there and stare down at the stage. Well this was definitely a time to be confused. He ran out into the lobby and saw some starkid fans watching him.

"Lauren?" He pointed up the stairs

"Yep" they nodded with a smile. As he ran up the stairs he could hear them screaming hysterically. He opened the door to the stalls and started searching for Lauren in the row of seats, he was so glad they hadn't opened it to the fans. His eyes stopped on the most beautiful in the world, she was sitting there staring at the stage with her hair in a side pony and with shorts that Darren was loving the sight of. Darren made his was over to her slowly and quietly trying not to alarm her.

Lauren looked at her friends on the stage performing for their lives like it was the apocalypse, she loved being up here and being away from it all. Suddenly she felt two hands wrap around from behind and felt a warm breathe as she heard a whisper in her ear.

"Hey gorgeous, I've missed you." She loved the musky tone of Darren's whisper. She placed her hands on top of Darrens.

"I've missed you too" she smiled.

Darren released his grip and climbed over the seats and picked the one next to Lauren. He once again placed his arm around her and pulled her in close.

"So you looked pretty sexy up there with me" He said cheekily.

"Really" Lauren was loving every minute of this.

"Yes, You know I meant every word I sang right?"

"Yeah, yes I do."

"Well good because I know you meant every word too" Darren began to rub small circles on Laurens thigh making her melt into her seat.

"Lauren you know why I came here right?"

"I'm not to sure" she knew exactly why he was here

"I need to talk to you, so how about you meet me in my hotel room 14e after the show?" He slowly kissed lauren on the cheek like he was convincing her to come.

"Of course" Lauren smiled

"Well then miss Lopez I think your lucky day has arrived."


	12. Chapter 12

**_Sorry for the long wait :) Hope you enjoy this part! _**

Lauren, with her bag flung over her shoulder, began to pace up and down outside the hotel room 14E. Her breathe became heavy and heart racing fast. She felt a small vibration coming from her back and with a shaking hand took out her phone.

_Stop pacing and come inside babe xx – D_

Holy crap, she thought. He knows I'm here and did he call me babe. Her heart was now on the verge of jumping out of he chest, she couldn't do this but also couldn't find the strength to leave. Lauren took one last long heavy breathe and placed her hand on the door handle. She began to turn it until she heard a slight click and the door became loose. Weakly she pushed open the door and stepped inside but there was one thing missing. Darren wasn't there. At last she heard a little squeak coming from the ground, as her head followed the noise she found herself standing on top of a trail of roses. Darren knows what he want she sighed, but without thinking she followed the trail that, no surprise at all, leads to the bedroom. Suddenly she froze in front of the door scared at what she will find behind it.

"Lo, come in don't be scared I promise nothing bad is going to happen." Darren whispered through the door. Lauren could hear him breathing which obviously meant he was standing next to the door.

"Im nervous." Lauren managed to reply, even though she didn't know what she was worried about.

"All I want to do is talk. Do you trust me?" He said speaking a little louder through the door.

"Yes"

The barrier between them suddenly began to open and they were finally revealed to each other. Darren raised his hand to grab Laurens and pulled her inside the room; they both walked over to sofa in the corner and sat down stiffly. However it was eventually Darren who broke the tension.

"I need to talk to you about that Skype call we had." Lauren already knew what was coming.

"I don't want to" She hesitated.

"Stop, Lo you need to stop all this." As fast as a bullet Lauren looked up at Darren who had now placed his hand on her leg.

"Stop what?"

"We need to talk about us straight up and right now otherwise it will get worse and who knows when our next conversation will be." Lauren grabbed Darren's shoulder making him stop his speech.

"Then let me go first." Daren silently nodded quite surprised by her announcement.

"Truth is I hate it...us and how we are now."

"Oh" His face fell and Lauren swore she could see a tear forming.

"I hate us now. I hate how we talk and I have to resist not grabbing you and holding you tight. I hate how you hug me and I have to let go, how I have to see girls all over the world screaming about you and try not to join in. I hate how I'm sitting her now and I can just lean over to you and kiss you."

Darren quickly placed a finger to her lips and began to speak.

"My turn. I hate us too. I hate how I tell you I love you but you never realise how much, I hate how i grab your hand and you pull away, I hate how I'm still here talking to when i should be doing this."

Darren grabbed Laurens face and placed his lips on hers. The kiss was electric. Two minutes and Darren finally pulled away.

"I love you Lo" As her response Lauren pulled him back in again for another kiss. The kisses became deeper and more passionate every inch of Lauren felt on fire. She loved him and couldn't believe this was happening. Darren began to stand up taking Lauren with him and leading her over to the bed. He finally managed to place her in the middle and climb on top of her. Lauren, now clicking on to what he was doing, removed herself from his lips and placed her hand between them.

"Darren I...I can't" She whispered

"Lo I love you and have wanted to this ages and I'm going to make this the best night ever for both of us. Trust me"

"I do" Lauren replied quickly before Darren re attached himself to her lips. This was it she though.

"Jaime hunny do you want any breakfast." Joey called at one end of the bus.

"Uh yeah sure Joey" she replied making her way down the bus to him.

"Hey guys" Clark announced as he went to join them in the lounge area of the bus.

"Clark, Jaime, Joey how are you this morning?" Corey said as he walked towards them with Charlene and Megan behind him.

"Wow you guys are loud" Brain complained as he rolled out of his bunk.

"Hey guys I don't mean to worry you but Laurens not in her bunk." Clark piped up as he pulled back the curtain of Laurens pod. All the starkids gasped at jolted their heads towards Clark. However Jaime stood there laughing at her other friend's reaction.

"Jaime why are you laughing?" Joey asked looking at her surprised.

"Hehe guys Lauren went to Darren's hotel last night after the show" she giggled

"Oooh go Lauren" Brian cheered raising his arm into the sky nearly touching the top of the bus.

"Yeah when she comes back don't hound her with questions okay?" Jaime stopped him

"Ok ok I won't ask her" He bowed his head and began to sulk. After twenty more minutes of driving them finally pulled over at their second venue. All the starkids happily jumped off the busses and ran inside the venue forgetting all about their equipment in the trunk. They all quickly ran back to the bus collecting the equipment and began to set it all up inside. Jaime and Meredith hopped onto the stage to run through coolest girl and had to use Brian Holden as a Lauren substitute. However not for long. As the music started playing a small figure walked through the door and sat by the stage.

"Lauren" Julia screamed as she ran and hugged her.

"Where have you been?" she asked looking confused, Julia's question was finally answered. Darren walked into the venue with an item of clothing.

"Darren?" Julia greeted him, but she was wondering why he was here. Slowly Darren walked over to Lauren and returned her jacket to its owner. He gave her a cheeky smile before turning back and walking back towards the door.

""Your going, so soon? But we just saw you." Brian complained.

"Oh you want me to stay?" He asked teasingly

"Yeah" they all sang together.

"Come on Darren I'm sure you don't have to leave just yet?" Julia tried to convince him.

"Yeah Darren and I'm sure there is something special keeping you here?" Jaime said smiling down at Lauren?"

"Stay" Lauren said softly looking directly in his eyes.

"Of course I will! But only for tonight i have to be at the airport tomorrow at 12pm." He replied

All the starkids cheered and smiled at their friend. Coolest girl began to fill the venue once more and the girls voices echoed beautifully throughout the room. Song after song the starkids ran through their sound check without a hiccup. It was flawless.

Lauren sat in her dressing room with her feet up on the table and her hair being groomed by Jaime. Meredith was sitting on the couch with Julia sewing one of the costumes that had been ripped on the journey there.

"Lo where were you this morning? You were late getting off the us" Meredith asked. Lauren froze before feeling confident enough to answer.

"I wasn't on the bus,i was with Darren at his hotel." She let out a little smile at the memory.

"Oh at his hotel huh?" Meredith said cheekily.

"Did you wake the neighbours?" Julia laughed

"Julia! How dare you think that of me!" Lauren said trying to e dramatic before laughing herself.

"So how was it?" Jaime asked.

"Go on Lo tell us everything!" Meredith jumped up with excitement knocking over the box of needles.

"Ooops"

"Well he told me to meet him there so I did; when I went in he has rose petals led out. We just sat there for a while and talked really."

"And then what?" Jaime asked now really intrigued.

"We kissed a little, and then we ... you know" All the girls in the room gasped, Meredith ran over to Lauren and knelt by her chair.

"Omg no way! Lo I'm happy for you!" She exclaimed as a huge smile spread across her face, however Laurens was doing the exact opposite.

"Lo? What's wrong?" Julia asked now running over to her.

"I don't know ... I'm being stupid." She replied looking down at the floor and began playing with the sleeves of her jacket.

"Lo spill!" Jaime demanded

"I think that's it though, that it will just be a one night stand you know?" She let out a sigh of relief.

"What why do you think that?" Julia asked her.

"Because this morning i woke up and he offered to drive me here but that's all he said we didn't even speak on the way here and that was like 3 hours of silence."

"Oh Lo I'm sure he had a reason" Meredith said comforting her.

"Lo he would never do that he loves you, you are beautiful" she continued.

"Yes she is" The girl all turned their heads to now be staring at Darren in the door way.

"Oh um I think I can hear Joey calling me, oh is that Brain to come on Mere lets go." Jaime and Meredith quickly scurried out of the room with Julia behind them. Darren made his way into the room and knelt down opposite Lauren grabbing her hands.

"You really thought it was a one off?" He asked now sensing she was feeling uncomfortable.

"Well that's how it looked this morning." She replied avoiding eye contact.

"Lo you're funny" Lauren was shocked that Darren was laughing at her.

"What that's what I thought! "

"I know but its just makes me laugh. You will never be a one off Lo ever! I mean it. If I could right now i would pull out a ring and ask you to e mine forever but considering i don't even know if we are dating yet I don't want to get shot down."

"Oh Darren if that's your way of asking me out your going to do a much better job than that.

"Well you're just lucky I have backups." He smiled. The door opened again and this time Brian, Dylan and Joey walked in. Brain handed Darren his guitar as Joey walked over to Lauren and handed her a rose. Darren began playing his guitar before he started singing. Lauren could recognise those chords anywhere. He was playing Sammie! As it got to the chorus and the boys joined in with a harmony she realised what he was doing.

"Lo will you be, the girlfriend of my dreams?" Darren finally finished the song and shot a questionable look at Lauren.

"Of course" she replied making Darren pick her up and swing her round in a circle.

"I love you" He whispered in her ear before planting a kiss on her cheek.


	13. Chapter 13

1 month later

The summer air blew softly over the feilds as Darren and Lauren lay looking up at the clouds. Lauren had her head placed on Darren's chest as he gently stroked her hair.

"Hey Lolo" He whispered turning his head away from the clouds and towards the small girl.

"Yes" Lauren laughed as she propped herself up on her elbows to face him.

"Its been a month today since we got together. And also the best month of my life."

"Oh Darren you do flatter me." She giggled beginning to stroke Darrens arm.

"I do mean it Lo, thank you. Hey as a treat why dont I take you out later. "

"I would love to but I have the tour rap party remember." She replied grabbing Darrens hand and lacing her fingers around his.

"Oh I forgot about that. I just wanted to spend time with you, I mean we only have three days left before I leave for England again." Darren began rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb as he tried not to choke up at the thought of leaving her now. But Lauren being Lauren this didnt go unnoticed.

"Hey dont think like that ok. We still have three days."

"Not really though. I mean in 10 minutes im leaving to shoot a scene for glee to prove I havent left for good. Then later youve got the tour wrap party with the fans. Tomorrow wont be any better, Ive got to go and do 5 interview in 3 different states then..." Darren was suddenly cut of by Lauren placing her lips against his.

"That was a nice way of shuting me up." Darren smiled. "Lo what are you doing tomorrow?"

"Probably recovering from a hangover why?" Lauren asked

"How would you like to take a trip with me?"

"You mean go with you to your interviews? Would I be allowed?"

"Course you would. Hey im not going to them if you cant come with me" He once again began to stroke her hair gently.

"If im going with you then your coming with me tonight. Come on Darren its not exactly like you werent invited in the first place you still are our friend."

"I thought I was more than that...Oh im kidding!" He added quickly noticing Laurens frown. "Fine I will go but If you get taken away from me I will cry." He gently pouted asking Lauren for something in paticular.

"Your so needy" Lauren gave a short giggle as she placed her hand over Darrens lpis pushing back down to the floor. However Darren managed to force the push in the oposite direction making Lauren now the victim lying on the floor with Darren holding her arms above her head.

"Well well well, someone had been working out." Lauren sighed

"Oh shut up Lopez" Darren said sarcastically before leaning in to kiss her.

10 minutes had now past and it was time for the couple to part. They walked first to their apartment so Lauren could pick up her things and made their way to Jaime's. When they walked in it was no suprise that Joey and Jaime were snuggled up on the sofa watching Tangled.

Alot had changed in the last month. Joey had now moved in with Jaime as they were settling down , leaving Lauren and Darren to live in the flat by themselves.. Julia had admitted to being lonley when she moved to new york without her girls so decided to move in with them in L.A. All the others had moved around aswell but because they have just been on tour most of them are in hotel rooms for the wrap party.

"Hey look who it is!" Joey cried as he noticed them walk in.

"Joey you knew we were coming" Lauren sighed

"Oh yeah now come here and give me a hug!" He yelled as ran over to Lauren and squeezed her.

"Steady on Joey I need her." Dareen laughed.

"Oh come here you big lug." Jaime said as she offered Darren a hug.

"Okay Lo ive gotta go I will be back at 7 ok?" Darren said softly as he gave Lauren a kiss and walked out the door.

"Well that was a short visit" Joey complained as the three made their way back to the sofa.

"Yeah but he goes back to England on Monday so he has to film a Glee scene whilst he is here." Lauren just realised what she had said. Darren was leaving. Again.

"Lo honey are you sure your okay?" Jaime asked calmly.

"Im fine im sure."

"Now just remember your always welcome here ok?"

"I know that im coming round for tea." Lauren laughed as she was pulled into another hug by the couple.

"I just want to say I love you Lauren" a girl screamed at Lauren as she moved down along the meet and greet line. Lauren really liked it when fans told her they loved her. It made her feel special inside.

"Well thank you guys its been nice to meet you and we will see you in the party" Dylan shouted as all the starkids stood up from their seats and began to exit the hall they were in. As Lauren left she could hear screams and crying coming from fans behind her. When they reached the empty dressing room corey greeted them by handing them a each a shot.

"Okay guys , remember the rules. Get drunk and have fun" Corey laughed as they all downed their shots and walked towards the stage wings. They had decided to invite all the fans and have a party with them after doing a couple of songs and a Q&A.

"What was the best bit about the tour Joe?" A boy asked from the corwd as corey ran to give him a mic.

"I think the rehearsal was. It was fun just to hang out again and also alot of things happened during those four weeks." Lauren agreed with him on this one

"Jaime, which costume do you prefer The SPACE Tour or APOCALYPTOUR.?"

"Oooh I would say The SPACE Tour! Who can beat sparkles" The crowd began to join in with laughter.

"Lauren, Whats this with you and Darren? We know that Jaime and Joey are together and Brian and Meredith and Now Joe and Denise so what about you two?" Lauren knew this was coming. All the other starkids looked at her before looking towards the back of the venue smiling. Looks like Darren turned up after all.

"wow you know alot. Um yeah we are dating" She giggled hearing a loud scream from the crowd.

"and now I expect alot of tweets from you guys about this now!" She added. Once agin the crowd let out a laugh, to Laurens suprise they hadnt noticed Darren yet, but they soon would.

So lets get this party started!" Joey yelled as he jumped off the stage and into the crowd shortly followed by the others. The music began to blast loudly and all the starkids and the fans began dancing taking a few more pics along the way. Lauren stared at Darren, who had now been stopped by a few fans, and smiled as he turned back to look at her. He kindly left the girls and walked over to her secretly grabbing her hands as he reached her.

"They know about us now Darr" Lauren whispered

" I know I think its more romantic this way" Darren was such a sweetheart when he wanted to be.

"You do flatter yourself sometimes" Laurens smile widend. she was really going to miss him when he left again. But for now she still had him and she intended to make the most of it. Lauren rose up onto her tiptoes and planted a kiss on Darrens lips. Eventhough she had her eyes closed she could still see the flashed of camreas going off in her direction. Well who wouldnt take a picture of Darren kissing his new and unknown girlfriend.

"What was that for" He smiled as they finally pulled apart cameras still flashing.

"Just to tell you I love you"

"I love you too" He whispered and kissed her once more. This time when they pulled away everyone was staring at them and smiling or screaming. It depended on why you were invited to this party.

"Um this is a little embarresing" Lauren said still looking into Darrens eyes.

"Yeah" He nodded. " But it was worth it."

"Totally" Lauren agreed.


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey guys! sorry but this fanfic will be ending in the next chapter! Don't worry I might make a sequel or make a new fanfic :) Enjoy**

All passengers for the flight to London, England please go to terminal 5. This is the final call

Lauren knew this sound too well. Last time she had heard it was the time she was ill after chasing after Darren before he left for his movie. Now, here she was again doing the same thing, saying goodbye. Lauren could feel two hand tightly wrap around her waist and a soft kiss being planted onto her cheek.

"You ok?" A sweet, musty tone came from behind her making her head spin.

"Fine" she whispered back trying her hardest to not let him see her cry. Again.

"That doesn't sound like you are fine." Darren pulled his hands towards his stomach forcing Lauren to turn and face him. However she noticed his plan and had managed to escape from his grip before walking away to the water fountain in the corner of the V.I.P lounge. As she sipped her water quietly Darren began to talk to her his velvet voice echoing throughout the room.

"Lo, something is wrong and now is the best time to tell me. I'm going to be gone in a few minutes." Lauren felt like she was repeating herself to him.

"Darren, nothings wrong." Lauren began to get angry at him but remained calm as she knew she would be upset when he goes.

"Then come and give me a kiss." Just as Darren finished his sentence the announcer began to ring again.

All passengers boarding the 4:15 plane to London, England the plane will be leaving in five minutes please board now.

"Lo, come on I've got to go." slowly he walked over to her grabbing her hand and once again failing to turn her to face him. Instead of saying goodbye Lauren ran straight out the room turning left into the restroom. Darren simply looked down at the floor and walked to board his plane.

"Love you to Lo" he muttered under his breath as he handed the officer his plane ticket.

* * *

Cool water dripped down Lauren's face as she stared at herself in the mirror.

"Well done Lauren. Well done. Nothing says I love then running out the room and throwing up making him leave all alone." Her head began to pound with thoughts like this as she began to dry her face off with a towel. Luckily it was the V.I.P bathroom so no one else was in there. However, there was one visitor.

"Excuse me Miss, I'm sorry but you have to leave we need this room for another person" The flight attendant was wearing the bright pink uniform correctly so Lauren knew she took her job seriously and 'I'm Darren's girlfriend would not let her off. Giving the woman a gentle nod as she passes Lauren began the journey home by foot as she could not risk taking the bus with the way she felt right now. Her head become slightly heavy as she walked up the stairs and to her flat. She remembered that no one was there anymore. It was just her. Julia did move out here but decided to get her own place so she wouldn't crowd Lauren and Darren. Just look at the place now. The chairs were empty, no one was in any of the rooms, all the food had been untouched. Lauren had never felt so lonely. Once again her head began to feel heavy just as Lauren made it to her empty bedroom. When she made that decision that day she didn't think it would ever lead to this painful, sickly experience. She decided to get some sleep but doing it voluntarily was not an option. Lauren flopped on the bead and fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

"Guys I'm worried about Lauren. Maybe one of should have gone with her!" Jaime said as she walked into her flat filled with starkids still hung-over from two days ago.

"Jaime hunny I'm sure she will be fine." Joey replied giving her a reassuring hug. However, this was not enough to convince Jaime her best friend was ok.

"Joey, Jaime has got a point. I mean last time she was ill for a week from running in the rain." Dylan piped up.

"And the situation with her is much worse now I'm scared for her health." Jaime added.

"Jaime what?" Joe asked his eyebrows raised at his friend. Jaime gave her self a little pinch on the arm as a little telling off for giving that information.

"What's wrong with Lauren's health?" Brian demanded for Jaime to tell them alongside Meredith pulling on her arm giving her puppy dog eyes. Save by the bell Jaime would say. Her phone began to ring making them all panic for a while.

"Shut up It's Lauren!." Jaime yelled pulling out her phone from her back pocket.

"Hello Lo?" She asked down the phone. No reply.

"Lo you there." Jaime repeated herself but all she could here was a crashing noise before the line went completely dead.

"Guys something is seriously wrong. I'm gonna go over there!" Jaime, Joey, Meredith and Julia ran out to Jaime's car and began the drive towards Lauren's flat.

A few knock on the door were not enough for Lauren to come to the door. Joey managed to kick in the door before Jaime ran towards the bedroom to find Lauren safely sleeping. Joey and the girls shortly followed he into the room before getting an explanation from Jaime.

"Butt dial" Jaime smiled. "Um why don't you go back to the others and I will stay here until she waked up." She suggested.

"Ok, Bye Jaime." Joey called before leading the other two back out the door and towards the flat.

* * *

Lauren could feel a niggle on her shoulder which soon turned into a light pushing. Her name was being called out behind her. Lauren slowly opened her eyes and turned to face Jaime standing over her smiling.

"Hey Lo you're awake." Jaime laughed watching her friend move around in her bed trying to regain consciousness.

"Shut up Jaime" Lauren grunted smashing the pillow against her head.

"Lauren talk to me I need to know if you're ok. I think you keep forgetting what you have been through!" Jaime grabbed Lauren's wrist with no chance of her escaping. Somehow she managed to yank Lauren up with her wrists so she was now sitting up facing her.

"Jaime stop it's hurting" Lauren yelled. Jaime finally loosened her grip a little but there was still no way she was getting out of her grip.

"Lo are you ok? I need to know how you are feeling."

"Like I'm going to die." Lauren finally managed to snag to opportunity to release herself from Jaime's grip and fell back onto her bed.

"You didn't tell him did you?"

"No"

"Lo, you do know tomorrow it will be too late? You can't go back. Darren deserves to know."

"No I don't want him too. You are the only person I have told" Lauren grabbed her friend tight and began to cry into her shoulder.

"Oh Lauren what are we going to do with you." Jaime cried rubbing Laurens hair.

"Help me Jaime"

"I will"

* * *

Darren pushed his way through the crowd of paparazzi as he tried to get to his hotel.

"Darren here, turn here." Yelling was coming from the crowds as lights began to flash. Suddenly a second car pulled up just in front of the crowd. As the door opened a tall, beautiful blonde girl stepped out and began to walk over to Darren. She was wearing a mid length brown coat with long black high heeled boots and her shiny golden hair fell down her back.

"Emma over here!" The paparazzi were now chanting her name when she finally reached Darren.

"Hey babe" Darren greeted her as he planted a kiss on her berry pink lips.

"Nice to see you too." She replied as the cameras made it look like there was a thunder storm happening. They both began to walk over to the hotel door hand in hand.

"I love you" He called as he opened the door for her.

"Darren what about Lauren back in America?" Someone yelled.

"Who is Lauren?" Darren questioned as he and Emma disappeared into the hotel.


	15. Chapter 15

**Well this is it the final chapter... enjoy :)**

"That Bastard!"

"What a dumbass"

"I thought he was our friend!"

"That little weasel!"

"Guys shut up a minute! Yes ok he called us a few names but can we think about something else for a minute? Where is Lauren? I think she is the most hurt out of all of us!" Meredith screamed over the other rowing starkids. They had all woken up in Jaime's flat to an overflow of tweets and blogs and magazines being thrown in their faces.

"We need to be there for her. She needs all of us right now." Joey nodded as he walked over to Meredith as if they were forming a team.

"You coming?" Meredith asked the others who were still in rage over whole situation.

"Lets go!" Brian yelled grabbing his coat and walking out the door, shortly followed by the others.

"Do we even know where she is?" Nick called from the back of the line they seemed to be walking. They had no idea. They checked the flat, the rehearsal studio, the ice cram shop and even the theatre. She was no where.

* * *

_who's Lauren? _

_Me and Emma are in love_

_I wish to marry her one day_

_Oh those starkid pals? they are not my friends anymore_

_I have my new friends and my new girlfriend now_

Lauren flicked through magazine after magazine as she watched interviews on her phone. It hadn't sunk in yet. She thought she knew Darren, obviously not. Her next stop was her mentions.

_Lauren I'm so sorry_

_I feel so upset for Lauren _

_Darren what a prick! #WeLoveYouLauren _

_We are here for you Lolo!_

Lauren had to admit it did make her feel slightly better, however the heartache was still there. As she turned onto the next page a picture of her and Darren was the first thing she noticed. It was a picture from the wrap party when they had decided to go public about them.

_Darren announced he was dating collage friend and fellow Starkid member Lauren Lopez last month at the teams tour wrap party. Yesterday, Darren was spotted with a new girl Emma Jones who is his on screen lover for his newest movie. The pair both claimed they were in love. However Darren is not the only one to leave behind a fellow partner for this 'new relationship'. Emma also left her fiancé of 5 years. Could this be the new it couple? Or will it come crashing down on the cheaters paradise? You can catch their new movie in cinemas December 2013. _

The story below made her cry a little as she realised he had left her for an engaged woman. It wasn't the fact he had a new girlfriend or that he cheated that hurt her. It was the fact that it was Darren. They had been best friends forever and he now had the cheek to say he didn't know who they were because he was no a movie star? Lauren ripped out the page of the magazine that held the photo and began walking towards the edge of the cliff. High stone cliff was a place she used to come with her parents all the time...and Darren. As the wind blew furiously in her hair she ripped up the picture and launched it off the cliff falling to her knees. She began to sob loudly not even caring if there was anyone around.

* * *

"Where is she? It's beginning to rain we need to find her" Jaime yelled as the starkids began driving around like crazy looking for her.

"I'm sure she will be fine." Nick replied patting Jaime on the shoulder.

"Well we need to hurry up because there is a thunder storm on it's way." Brian yelled trying to be heard over the rain banging on the roof.

"I know where she is!" Joey shouted surprisingly from the back seat. If anyone was closer to Lauren than Darren it was Joey.

"WHERE?" Nick asked from the driver seat raising his voice as the rain now sounded like gun shots.

"SHE WILL BE AT HIGH STONE CLIFF HE AND DARREN WENT THERE ALL THE TIME! I WENT THERE ONCE!" Joey felt himself competing with the rain to get heard.

"THAT IS LIKE 10 MILES AWAY. PUT YOUR FOOT ON IT NICK WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME!" Meredith kicked Nick's chair to try and make him drive faster. The car pushed it's way through the rain as the starkids crossed their fingers and hoped to see Lauren soon.

* * *

"Mr Criss we have some guys here wanting to talk to you about the latest magazine release."

"Just go please!" Darren yelled at the intern who quickly ran out of his trailer. He dropped his eyes down to his phone after failing for the 20th time to get a hold of Lauren.

Lauren began to shiver as the rain fell heavier pounding onto her hair and clothes making them soaked beyond repair. Her phone began to ring again and this time she gave in and answered.

"Hello" she shivered.

Darren heard Laurens voice and let out a sigh of relief. Slowly he walked over to the window of his trailer and watched as the sun began to shine. However he was un aware of the opposite scene back in L.A.

"Lo, Lo I'm sorry. Ok just let me explain. It was never meant to get like this I was going to tell you but I just couldn't" Darren panted down the phone as he tried to give his explanation before Lauren spoke.

"Darren I don't want your explanations! I don't need them and I don't want them!" Lauren had to raise her voice a little so he could hear her clearly.

Darren quickly ran to his computer and checked up on the weather in L.A. He could tell something was up over there.

_L.A Forecast: Heavy rain with an upcoming storm._

"Lo are you outside?" He began to worry.

"Yes, High Stone Cliff. You remember it or are you going to slack it off for another cliff there in England?" Lauren began to cry harder just as the rain began to pour down harder if that was possible.

"LAUREN. I'm not with Emma. God damn it! It was a publicity stunt! We only did it to get more attention for the movie!" Darren gripped his phone harder as his anger began to boil in the pit of his stomach. "I Love you Lo"

Lauren actually couldn't believe her ears.

"WHAT! SO YOU EXPECT TO RUN OFF TO ENGLAND GET A NEW GIRLFRIEND SLATE ALL OF YOUR FIRNDS AND THEN COME BACK TELL ME IT WAS A PUBLICITY STUN AND EXPECT EVERYTHING TO BE OK?"

"Lauren calm down!"

"CALM DOWN YOU ARE TELLING ME TO CALM DOWN! DARREN I HATE YOU!" She scream so loud that she heard a rumble echoing around her.

"Lo, please no don't say that. No please don't." Darren began to cry along with Lauren as he sat down on his chair placing one hand on his cheek wiping away his tears.

"URGH I HATE YOU I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU EVER AGAIN!"

"Lo you are just angry ok I will come over there on the next flight and I will talk to you about this."

Lauren heard another loud rumble form through the clouds but it wasn't her that caused it.

"DONT YOU DARE YOU ARE THE LAST PERSON I EVER WANT TO SEE"

"Why are you being like this?"

"WHILE YOU WERE OVER THERE WITH YOUR PRETTY BLONDE I WAS HERE HAVING THE WORSE EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE" Lauren knew now was the time to tell him.

"What is going on Lo?"

"DARREN I WAS PREGNANT!" Her voice was still raised so he could hear he over all the rumbles.

"Lauren oh my god...wait was?"

Out of nowhere a bright silver flash emerged from the black clouds striking the cliff. All of a sudden there was silence. No rain, no clouds, it was peaceful once more.

Darren could hear a crash before hearing a buzzing noise coming from the phone. It was dead, just like the small girl on the other end.

* * *

**And that's it! Yes that did just happen! Hope you enjoyed and I might be back for a seqel if you want? Bye guys x**


	16. SEQUEL UPDATE

Hey guys, so this is the best way I thought to announce that yes I am doing a sequel! I have written the first three chapters which will be up soon! Every Sunday night a new chapter will be updated, but considering some have you have been asking for ages I thought I would give a few little spoilers:

Yes Lauren's funeral is in it

Darren may have a new love interest

This will be very different from the last story

And finally the story will be called Where We Began

So look out for the first chapter next Sunday (21st April) and thanks for all the support! Check out my twitter and tumblr for spoiles and fan art and also check out my other fanfic A Very Starkid Senior Year!

Bye x


End file.
